


detroit darkfall

by Emerald_east



Category: NCT
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-20 02:16:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 106,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11911134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald_east/pseuds/Emerald_east
Summary: Johnny leaves Chicago to start a new life as a normie; nobody has to know he spent the last 9 years studying magic. Now he wants to study literature and get a few jobs as a DJ. Why did the club have to be owned by a vampire?





	1. Chapter 1

_ I can’t believe I’m doing this. Seriously. _

Johnny sat in the front row of seats in the small auditorium, his blue gown becoming hot as the professor  continued to drone up on the stage. He hadn’t wanted to come here. He had protested bitterly since the real graduation had happened a week ago. He was already a journeyman – ‘taking the black’ was what they called it – and didn’t need a hopped up graduation ceremony to show it. But his mother had insisted and his grandmother had flown in from Florida for the graduation so he found himself here. Against his will, as usual.

Around him, the other graduates looked excited or serious as they contemplated the next step in their careers. Of course, all of them were at least three years younger than Johnny. They were impressed with all of this. Johnny tried not to look too bored, or fall asleep.

Finally, they started calling the graduates up to the podium. They exchanged their blue robes for black ones, and had the graduates say a small word to the audience of friends and family. Since there were only about twenty of them, this went fairly quick, and soon it was Johnny’s turn to exchange his robe.

Wearing the black, he turned to look at the audience. His lip curved in a smirk as he bent his head to talk into the mic. “I bet you’re surprised to see me here.” There was a small titter from the watchers, but he saw his mother frown. “I want to thank the school and faculty for hosting me for so  _ very _ many years. It feels great being a journeyman, and now I can really say it – I’m never coming back again!’ The kids in the audience burst out laughing at the current punchline from a meme circulating the internet. The parents just clapped politely, confused. Johnny’s grandma let out a wolf whistle, and his dad tried to shush her.

After the graduation, there was the obligatory cake and punch reception. Johnny’s mother flitted here and there, talking to everyone with happy pride. Johnny joined his father and grandmother at a small table, drinking punch and eating the cake, just waiting until she was done so they could leave. A few of the kids stopped to talk to Johnny, the ones that he had befriended the most – but truly, after a few years of his best friends leaving him behind, he had stopped getting close with the fellow students. These were just acquaintances, not really friends, and he wouldn’t miss them.

Eventually, his mother returned. Annika Seo was a slim, tall woman with straight red hair, and looked too young to have a twenty-one year old son. She wore a simple black dress with heels and a green blazer with the emblem of Michigan Academy on the lapel. It was from her old school uniform, that she had preserved for all these years for such an occasion. “Lets take pictures with the faculty,” She beamed, camera in her hand, blue eyes sparkling.

“Lets not. Believe me, I want to forget them.” Johnny replied dryly. He had already removed his robe, and looked like any of the older siblings of the black robed kids in the room.

“Come on, Johnny.” Annika wheedled.  “Just a few pictures.”

“I’m not taking any pictures.” He was firm, meeting his mom’s eyes, his hands steepled in front of him like he was a professor. “I would be happy to go.”

She opened her mouth to try again, but glanced to the side and saw some eyes looking her way. She pressed her lips closed and nodded sharply. “All right then. Lets go.”

They made their exit without fanfare, going outside into the late spring sunset and walking past the expensive foreign sedans and sportsters that were clustered by the doors. Johnny’s dad fussed over his grandmother, making sure she made it down the steps and holding her arm while she pushed her walker. The elder Mrs Seo was placed carefully onto the front seat of the Mercedes sedan, while Johnny and his mother climbed into the back. It was nearly an hour drive to get back to the big house in Winnetka. Annika looked out the window with her arms folded as Grandma Seo spoke in Korean to Johnny’s dad. 

“Mom, why would they take those old alligator boots? Those are twenty years old,” Johnny’s dad retorted in exasperation. 

“Jinsoo, those are good boots. They were expensive, they cost me eighty dollars at least. I bought them at Dollywood when I was there with your father. I know that woman took them. She also took my placemats.”

“Mom! Why would she want your placemats?”

“How do I know? She denied taking them! She must have needed placemats and thought I wouldn’t notice.”

_ Grandma is getting crazier, _ Johnny thought fondly, looking at the back of the old woman’s head. She dyed her white hair a determined shade of blond and wore large, cheap earrings. She liked to buy clothes on sale and had once refused to buy flip flops she liked because they were $10. She would only pay $4 for flip flops. Nobody could tell by looking at her that she was worth several million. She would never overpay for clothes but she was generous with her grandkids, buying each one their first car and helping with college tuition. She was also the only person that could make Johnny’s father a doting fool and it was a joy to watch. She also dislodged Annika from her perch as queen of the household and seeing his mother take a back seat to grandma was also rather enjoyable.

Johnny glanced over at his mother. She was annoyed; this graduation hadn’t gone as she had hoped. The people at the school and the other parents were her close friends, since she had grown up in Winnetka and gone to the school herself. She valued the time spent there, and didn’t understand why everyone else was just as happy to go.

When Johnny’s mom caught his gaze, she smiled at him. As always, her annoyances flared up and were quickly gone. “Sorry I got like that about the photos. I know you won’t miss school, you’ve been there long enough. The photos were really for me.”

He looked back at her and nodded. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Johnny!” She laughed, eyes glinting as she looked at him, and gave him a fake punch on the shoulder. “don’t sass me boy.”

“You can’t threaten me anymore, woman. I have learned how to defend against you.” He made some starbursts at her with his big hands. “prepare for my magical attack!”

“Defend this.” She reached under his arms and tickled his ribs, chuckling as he writhed quickly away from her. “Haha. Your weakness.”

“You’re right there,” He admitted, and watched her lean back in the leather seat, smiling. He pulled his phone out, and took a picture of her before she could put up a hand.

“augh, you didn’t! Let me see that.” She reached for his phone.

“Nope.” He wanted to remember his mother like that, smiling and happy and proud of him. He felt an ache in his chest, that only squeezed harder when she reached over and patted his head. He knew his mother loved him. She had always been there for him, from when he was little until now; if anything, her only error was trusting him too much when he was a teen and doing some crazy shit. He was sorry for what he was going to do tonight, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He was still going to do it.

The car purred as they entered the freeway, the fine tuned motor easily accelerating to 80 as they eased into the fast lane. Johnny watched the ribbon of gray cutting through the city, curving somewhere over the horizon, and felt the desire to follow it.  _ Just keep driving. Never go home again... _

His mom grasped his hand,  and her eyes lit with anticipation. “I have a surprise for you at home.”

“Do you?” Johnny couldn’t resist her happy face. “What is it?”

“I’m not telling, but you will love it,” She assured him.

“Haha. I’m not so sure about that!” Grandma chortled from the front seat, this time in English.

“Mother, you promised you wouldn’t tell,” Annika reminded flatly.

“Yes, hush,” Jinsoo seconded. He looked stressed, the line between his black eyebrows deeper, and he gripped the steering wheel tightly. The last thing he wanted was for his wife and mother to start arguing; either side he took he would be in trouble.

Grandma turned in her seat to look at her grandson. “You are so handsome now, Johnny boy. And so tall. Do you have a girlfriend?” Her dark eyes glinted, sharp and mischevous.

“No I don’t, Grandma,” Johnny grinned at her. 

She grinned back, showing her perfect teeth; they cost a fortune, Johnny had been told. “Well, I don’t blame you there. All you see are those wacky magic girls at that school. Those girls are high strung and they don’t know how to run a household or raise a family or even hold a job. Have some fun in your life, then find yourself a nice normal girl.”

Johnny could feel his mother seething next to him; her usually calm aura was roiled and red. Before she could open her mouth he reached out a hand and slid his fingers into hers, squeezing a warning. “I hope I’m lucky enough to find someone as great as my mom someday, magic or no,” He replied with great diplomacy.  _ Grandma is stirring up the shit tonight. I’d better be on my toes. _

“That’s so sweet. You are the best son,” Grandma adored Johnny, it was true, and he could do very little wrong in her eyes. His cousins were both girls, but Grandma gave the greatest share of her attention to Johnny. It may also have had to do with the fact her other son’s wife wouldn’t entertain her for very long, while Annika allowed months-long visits. “Johnny, you’ve been locked up in that school for far too long. Its really time to get out there and see what you’ve been missing in life.” And she gave him a very obvious wink before turning around in her seat. 

Suspicious, Johnny gazed at his grandmother. Her short helmet of blonde hair glinted with the red light from the sunset, and she clutched her huge purse between her knees. Her aura rolled in greens and blues; she was certainly pleased about something. Sighing, Johnny pulled back his sight and settled back into the plush leather seat. 

Nobody talked for the rest of the journey home. It was a relief to pull up onto Sheridan Road, and pass by the mansions slowly until they reached their own home. It was a pretty place, with a brick paver circle drive in grey and four white pillars in front. The stately home was private from the road, with manicured hedges and large maple trees, but its real beauty was that it backed directly onto the beach of Lake Michigan. The long yard sloped down for about two acres, then there was the beach and the lake itself.

Not every house on the beachside was owned by a member of the Chicago Sorceire, but a good number of them were. The Great Lakes were a source of magical power and energy; living by the lake was considered to be essential. The kind of wizards that lived in Chicago lived on the lake. They drove expensive cars and wore designer clothes, and liked to throw lakeside parties on the equinox. They sent their kids away from home at the sixth grade to attend Michigan Academy, like they had done themselves. The Chicago wizards were a bunch of stuck up insufferable assholes.

Except for Annika, of course. She’d married outside the group, to a man who was as talented as she was but had supressed it all his life. His South Korean family didn’t see his magic as a blessing, but thought that he was not only unlucky but probably cursed. They were certainly not happy in his choice of a wife - and wouldn’t tolerate her occupation, which was planned to be teaching in that same Academy. So she’d given up the job for the man, and they’d had Johnny and slid right into the Sorceire when they moved to Sheridan Drive.

Johnny had once been happy to be a part of that life. He’d started at the academy with some of his best friends. When they were young they played video games and sports together.  When they were older, they would come back summers to have bonfires on the beach, drive their boats too fast, wakeboard and jetski and drink with local girls. And one by one, they graduated while Johnny did not. 

He certainly wasn’t the only one this had ever happened to. It wasn’t really that rare. He remembered a guy who had been there his freshman year. He had certainly been in his early twenties; he’d run card games in his room and had charged a very reasonable fee to buy alcohol. Everyone had liked him but they had secretly felt sorry. And then that person who just couldn’t graduate was Johnny. 

It wasn’t academics. In fact, he had passed all of those with excellence and began online college when he was eighteen. The problem had always been magic.

“Come on, and see the surprise.” Gleefully, Annika took his hand and pulled him into the house. Their shoes echoed on the marble floor. Johnny glanced in the living room as they passed, to see the black baby grand piano there waiting for him. He was going to miss playing that piano, and the majestic reverberations of that room. He was going to miss the way his mother would sit reading while he practiced, encouraging him with her smiles when he conquered a difficult passage. She would sometimes dance stupidly if he were playing something with a good rhythm, and they would sometimes sing together too. He remembered playing carols at Christmastime, when all the cousins came and the big tree was lit and beautiful in the corner. Annika’s pride in him was a warm and pleasant presence all around him, everytime he touched those keys.

They passed the living room and went down the stairs, Annika hurrying and not caring if Grandma was left behind to take the steps one by one with Jinsoo clutching at her arm. Johnny smelled paint and the faint essence of sawdust as they crossed the rec room and his mom threw open the farthest door.

This had used to be a ‘safe room’, something that was in the house when they’d purchased it back when Johnny was a baby. It had never been used for anything but storage. Now…

Johnny stepped inside. The room was brightly lit, with warm amber fixtures at every corner . New floor to ceiling wooden shelving had been installed on each wall, and it was obvious that the shelves were custom made of a dark wood and fitted carefully. A desk was in the center of the room, made of the same wood, but with many drawers. A black leather swivel chair was pulled up to the desk.

“What do you think?” Annika was grinning. “Its your own library and study room. I know you want to finish your degree, of course, but studying magic is a lifetime effort. You can collect your books in here, keep your journals, study as you will. This room is reinforced with steel and I also put some protective charms on the walls and shelves. No matter what you’re doing, you won’t knock the house down from here.”

Johnny stood quite still, wondering how she had managed to keep this a secret the whole time that he was home. And how she could have done such a thing for him, that was the very last thing that he ever would have wanted. “Mom.”

“Look, the shelves are different widths for different books.” She ran her hands lovingly along the wood. “The desk is extra wide too, so you can have several large books open at the same time.” She patted the desk, and looked up at him. Seeing his expression, she blinked. “Don’t you think its nice?”

“Its really beautiful.” As he looked into his mother’s eyes he saw the love and hope there. That love and hope was the only thing that had kept him going back to that school. He’d done his part and graduated. Now it was her turn to give, and she wasn’t going to like it. “Its really a great room. Its too bad I won’t be using it.”

“Won’t be using it?” Her voice lifted, like it did when she was about to get very angry. Annika was a slender woman with a childlike voice, but her anger scared everyone, including Johnny. “Why wouldn’t you use it?”

Jinsoo and Grandma had come in the door. His dad was shorter than Johnny, the top of his head reaching somewhere near his nose; Grandma only reached his armpit. Johnny casually stepped behind his human shields before he told his mom. “I’m leaving Chicago. I’m finishing up my degree at Wayne State, in Detroit. And I’m done with magic. I’ll never study it again.”

“WHAT?” Annika’s shock manifested as literal electricity, lifting her auburn hair into the air around her head like a red corona. Her eyes glowed brightly and energy crackled visibly around her hands. Cursing, she grounded the energy and the electricity dispersed with a hiss, fizzing out as her hair slowly flattened again.

“Damn.” Johnny muttered. He was a grown man and he still hated to see that.

“Bahhh.” Grandma turned around and hobbled out of the room. “Magical girls.” 

Johnny’s dad glared at both of them, then ran after Grandma. “Mom – be careful… The stairs…”

Annika clutched her hands at her elbows.  A few strands of her hair still floated over her head. “This is - so abrupt. Why haven’t you talked to me about this? You don’t have to make any plans now. You have the whole summer ahead of you. We can sit on the deck and talk about books, we can go out on the boat this summer. I want to hear about all the things you’ve learned, all that you can do now. If you want a break – take a break, its ok. See your friends, live your life. Your dad can get you a job at his company, or you can get one yourself. You don’t have to leave here. You don’t have to make … final decisions.”

Johnny knew he couldn’t waver. If he did, she’d have him in this room studying till he went blind. As much as he loved her, he knew she would never let him take a break for more than a week. It was her pride in him that wouldn’t let her stop until he was what she thought he should be. “I want to go away to school. I’m done with studying Magic! I wanted to quit the Academy for the last two years, but I promised I would finish what I started. You told me if I did, I could do what I wanted afterward.”

“But you finished so well. The headmaster told me you have so much potential, and that’s why they had to keep you so long. The power you hold had to be managed very carefully. Now that you’ve managed to master the basics, the greater magics will be...”

He listened to her weave her logical spiderweb, and knew he couldn’t argue. His only solution was to step away. “I have power but I don’t’ have the fine, mincing technique that Michigan Academy requires. I learned their damn technique and now I’m free. And you are trying to go back on what you promised me.”

“But Johnny it’s your dream!” She wailed, clutching her hands together as the tears caught in her eyelashes and tumbled down her cheeks. “How can I let you walk away from your dream? It will just take a little more effort, and the dream will be in the palm of your hand.”

He looked at her with pity. “It’s your dream,” He told her, as gently as he could. He knew he was breaking her heart. “Its not my dream anymore. Right now, I need to go. And I am leaving here. Right now.”

He couldn’t stand to see his mother weep so miserably, and he hated the feel of her anguish as it filled the house. Johnny told his father he was leaving, causing another ruckus. His grandmother didn’t say much, but he had told her about his plans days before. His jeep was packed with the things he needed and all he needed to do was get in.

Before he left, he took one last walk to the beach. It had been his playground as a child, and his favorite place as a teen. The air was chill as he went down the lawn, the wet grass soaking his sneakers and his socks as he descended to the sand.  The moon was almost full, and shining brightly enough to turn the sand to silver.  He faced away from the big white house up on the hill, looking out over the inky water. The tide washed up and back, waves small with the calm weather, and the rushing sound drained the tension from the back of Johnny’s neck.

He wasn’t surprised when he heard footsteps; he’d sensed his father approaching before he could see him. Jinsoo stood next to johnny, looking out at the water.. “We’re upset.”

They both laughed at the understatement of the century. “Yeah. I know.”

“Neither of us want you to leave. With school and all – we’ve had so little of you, Johnny. We’ve really missed you.” His father squeezed his shoulder.

“I understand that, dad.” Johnny had known it would be hard to leave. He was stern, resolute. “But you did choose to send me there. And while I was there, I turned 21, and I can’t be a child in this house again. You know mom will  _ never _ let me give up magic. She won’t rest until I change my mind.”

“Are you that determined to give it up?” His dad looked like he wanted to argue about it.

“I’m giving up studying it. What I know, I know. It’s a part of me. But I’m not going to be a professional wizard like mom wants to make me, president of the Chicago Sociery or some damn shit. That’s not me. I accept it. And I won’t come back, until she accepts it too.”

Jinsoo sighed, clasping his hands behind his broad back. “How did I get such a stubborn family. My mother. My wife. Now you. I thought you were the easy one.” 

Johnny’s dad made it clear that he was always going to love him, but he wasn’t going to financially support him to do something his mother was dead against. If Johnny was leaving, he was going to have to get by without daddy’s money.

Johnny had expected that. “Its fine. I’ll manage.” He didn’t mention that he had already received a graduation present from his grandma - $20,000 for college. “There’s more if you need it,” she’d assured him as she slipped him the check. She considered magic to be a curse rather than a gift, and was more than happy to see him give it up. 

They trudged back up to the driveway. Annika stood by the jeep, knuckling the tears on her cheeks. Johnny was surprised to see her there, but then again- not entirely.

“You’re a little bastard, to leave like this,” His mother told him, but then she hugged him tight. “Go ahead if you need to go. But don’t forget the things you’ve learned. Detroit… she leaned back, bit her lower lip. “Its not like here. They don’t have a Sorceire that keeps people and  _ things  _ peaceful and orderly. Its chaos there.”

“You don’t have to worry about me.” He told her, and it was true. He knew what Detroit was like. Thats why he wanted to go there.

“I do nothing but worry about you. But I’m not going to sit here and let you fuck around and waste all your potential. I have to do all that I can to help you become who you should be. Its my job as a mom, and its my responsibility as a wizard. If you’re so set on not living up to your potential - then I guess you have to go.” She took a step back, letting her arms fall. “I’m disappointed and sad. But I love you. And I wish you well.”

She was finally being honest with him. And he could count on one hand the amount of times his mom had stated the word  _ fuck _ . “I love you too mom, dad. I’ll call you when I get there.”

He left them still shellshocked, standing in the driveway as he pulled out. The headlights of his jeep illuminated the trees of the familiar street as he drove that route he’d taken so many times, ever since he earned his drivers license. It finally hit home that he was really free when he was on the highway, heading east, riding that undulating gray ribbon to its end. The weight of his mother’s expectations lightened with every mile; he felt pained at what he’d done, but this break was for everyone’s good. 

Johnny cracked the window, and turned up the music. The wind pushed at his hair and the jeep vibrated soothingly as it sped through the darkness. He’d stop soon and get gas and some snacks for the road. 

4am, he would be in Detroit.


	2. Chapter 2

Taeil stood at the patient’s bedside. He felt like his mind was encased in cotton, his limbs pushing through water as he groggily raised his head to the monitor to see the heart rate falling. 50. 40. 30. The pulse ox was 27. The rhythm was erratic, like nothing he’d ever seen.

“No pulse,” the nurse said, lifting her hand off the patient’s neck to hit the CPR button on the wall. She grabbed the ambu bag and began ventilating the patient. The alarm claxoned through the quiet halls, but Taeil still couldn’t move, not even when the nurse glanced up at him expectantly. Her gray hair showed she’d been a nurse longer than he’d been alive. He couldn’t think, couldn’t tell her what to do. Nurses were running into the room, bringing the CPR cart.

“Doctor, do you want to start compressions?”

“Uh- yeah.” Taeil managed to grunt.

The nurses lined up, the first one jumping on the chest to start compressions.

“Doctor, do you want to give meds?” The older nurse nudged.

“Uh..” He couldn’t remember. What meds?

“How about a miliigram of Epi? Do you want to give that?” Her gaze showed contempt for stupid residents that thought they could run things better than she could.

“Yes - uh - epi…”

The monitor on the cart showed big loops as the compressions pressed the heart. The patient was gray, mouth agape. The alarm was banging, banging, banging…

Taeil woke up, drool on his cheeks and heavy head stuffed into the pillow. He felt one moment of profound relief that it was only a dream before the BANG, BANG brought him to his feet.

Who the hell would be at the door in the middle of the night?

 

Johnny leaned against the door, yawning. He’d tried texting, then calling but he had no reply. The only thing left to do was _knock._

BANG! BANG! BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The shout of “I’m coming!” could be heard faintly through the door. Johnny amused himself thinking of double entendres as he straightened up, watching the door open just an inch. He looked into the bloodshot eye that showed in the crack, and watched it widen in horror. “Johnny fucking Seo? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

“It’s almost morning. And I’ve come to stay with you!” Johnny slid his duffel bag in front of him so Taeil could see it.

“Why wouldn’t you call me?” Taeil almost whimpered.

“You said I was welcome anytime.”

“Oh, my god. I did say that. Kill me now.”

Taeil eventually let Johnny in, and set him up on the couch. “Just let me go back to sleep. I was at the hospital  last night and I didn’t even get home until a half an hour ago, I am freaking exhausted. Just lay down and don’t do anything.” The tired Taeil stumbled back to his bedroom, shutting off the lights as he went.

Johnny scrunched up on the couch that was a bit too small for him, looking out at the lights of the Detroit riverfront from the large window on the front of Taeil’s place. “You can always find a wizard by the water,” johnny muttered to himself, trying to get comfortable. He was tired from the long drive but still kind of wired from the coffee he’d drank to make it there.

He texted his parents, just so they would know he was ok.

Johnny woke to the sound of laughter. He found himself sprawled out on the couch, one leg up on the back and his arm dragging on the ground. He looked up, wiping his face as Taeil tried to look like he hadn’t just taken his picture.

Taeil looked pretty funny himself, his hair flat on one side and fluffed out on the other, his cheek still creased from the pillow. “Good morning, beautiful,” Johnny made a kissy face at him.

“Ugh. You’re not still in love with me, are you? Because I have a girlfriend, and she likes to cut first and ask questions later,” Taeil warned, coming to sit in the chair near Johnny’s head.

“Gross. I’m not in love with you. There was just that one summer where I was a little confused, ok?” Johnny was so done with being teased over that. Taeil knew it, so the teasing would never end. “Congratulations on the girlfriend. Another med student?”

“Yes. She’s from China.”

“Well, good for you. Does she know you went to Michigan Academy?” Johnny watched Taeil’s expression turn sheepish and figured he’d scored a point.

“How does anyone have that conversation with a normie? Let’s go get some breakfast.”

They ate cheap pancakes at the Coney Island on the corner near Taeil’s high rise. The waitress tried to flirt with Johnny, even though he was unshowered and unshaven. He hadn’t even bothered to change, and his once crisp white oxford hung with open cuffs like a pirate shirt. Taeil shook his head in amazement. “Johnny Seo, you still have it.”

“Oh, I know.” Johnny grinned, flashing his white teeth. The two had been childhood friends, growing up just houses away from each other. Taeil was two years older, but he had always been willing to play with Johnny. They had been roommates at the Academy as well. Taeil had seen how Johnny had gone from being just a goofy kid to the hot boy of their school in less than a year – it had something to do with growing six inches, and getting his braces off. Even coming out as bisexual had done nothing to reduce Johnny’s popularity. The new generation of Sorciere celebrated love in all its forms - and if they didn’t, they shut up about it, because Johnny was bigger than most of them.

“So you’re really going to Wayne State this summer? I can’t really believe it.” Taeil was still staring with his big brown eyes. He’d combed his dark hair down neatly and was wearing a set of adidas sweats. His backpack was next to him in the booth. He looked like what he was, a serious grad student cute enough for a second glance.  “I _know_ your mother. How did you pull that off?”

“I cut and run while they were still surprised,” Johnny admitted, mopping up the rest of the syrup on his plate with a piece of toast. “I got admitted to Uni in February. I’ve been planning this forever, bro.”

“And you never told me, because…” Taeil raised an eyebrow, raising his mug to sip his coffee.

“You’re gonna make me admit it? Fine! I didn’t know if I could pull it off until I actually did.” Johnny snorted at himself. “I’ll pay. Lets go see my house.”

“What _house_?”

“I rented it over the internet.” Johnny shrugged.

“Oh, god.” Taeil groaned. “How could you? There are BAD neighborhoods around here, Johnny! Do you even know what neighborhood your house is in?”

“It will be ok.” Johnny threw some money on the table, and got up with an eager grin. “Let’s go see. I’m meeting the landlord at two.”

They picked up Johnny’s jeep from its parking spot on the street. Taeil was able to direct him to the crossroads of Lincoln and Alexandrine. They drove out of the direct downtown area, through nice new condos, then well kept old brick homes, then less well kept brick homes with empty lots scattered between.

“Why the empty lots?” Johnny wondered, driving slowly.

“After the housing bust so many of these got foreclosed, there were squatters in them and they became drug houses or started to fall into ruin. The city has been taking them down ever since to reduce blight.”

“Wait dude- I think that’s my house.” Johnny pulled to a stop.

The house was red brick, long and narrow. It was two stories, with a black dormer roof with a few windows around the slanted sides. The three upstairs windows had gothic sculptures winging over the frames. There was another house of the same design right next door, but from Johnny’s house to the corner the three lots were only grass and bushes; all the houses had been taken down. It was the same with the house on the other side of Johnny’s; three empty lots before another house. Altogether, there were only six houses on the block, three on either side with many empty lots. Two separate sidewalks led up to the house; one led to the main door, and the other to a door on the side of the house.

“That side door is for me. I’m renting the upstairs.” Johnny shut off the jeep and got out, Taeil following with a nervous look around.

“I don’t really like this Johnny. There are more empty lots than houses. Everything is overgrown here and its just turning into summer.”

“Yeah Taeil. I guess the people on this street can’t afford gardeners.” Johnny was dry. “C’mon.”

They walked up to the side entrance. There was a little narrow roof over the door, held up by white posts. Johnny rapped smartly.

A small woman with a tan and styled blond hair opened the door from inside. “Johnny Seo?”

“That’s me. This is my friend Taeil.”

She grinned, chewing her gum. “I’m Taylor from Winners Realty. I’m your new landlord. Welcome to your new home!”

They went up the narrow staircase and opened another door at the top of the steps to enter. “As you can see, its very secure with the two doors.” Taylor told them. “There’s no access between the downstairs duplex and yours.” The living room took up the front of the house. It had a hardwood floor and a brown microsuede couch with a few odd chairs. “The furniture is staying, like you specified, Mr. Seo.”

“Great.” Johnny grunted.

The kitchen was small, and the master bedroom barely fit the queen bed and dresser that it contained. The second bedroom had a twin bed and a desk. The bathroom had a claw-foot tub that looked like it had been put in the room before the door had been made; there was no way it would go through. In the back of the duplex was an empty “bonus room” with stairs going up to the attic. “We’ve had people use the attic as an artist studio and a playroom,” Taylor told the two as she led them up.

The attic was hardwood as well, with sunlight slanting through the dormer windows across the dusty floor. The huge room stretched the entire length of the house, and with the light beating down on the black shingles, it was warmer than downstairs. “Music studio,” Johnny said with satisfaction.

“Well, if you’re going to make a lot of noise you should check with Bertrand. He is your downstairs neighbor, and a really nice guy.” Taylor popped her gum. “Any questions?”

“Yes. How many shootings in this neighborhood?” Taeil wanted to know.

“This neighborhood is really improving. The blighted houses are gone, and its really close to Wayne State. You can drive there in five minutes, walk there in twenty.” Taylor chirped, avoiding the question.

“Does it have a garage?”

“No, but its allowed to park on the street.”

“Its great, Taylor. I’m gonna be really happy here, I can feel it.” Johnny ignored Taeil's doubtful looks and signed his paperwork. Taylor handed him the keys and her card. She gave him some instructions on how to switch the utilities into his name and how to get cable, and then she was off with a wave.

Taeil had gone to look out the front windows while they wrapped things up. He turned around as soon as he heard the door shut behind her. “Did you really tell her you wanted to keep all this furniture?” He shook his head like he couldn’t believe it.

“Sure. I don’t have any.”

“Then go get my bag out of the car. I have a tincture in there that you’re gonna need.”

“I think I told you that I’m giving up magic.” The springs squeaked as Johnny settled down into the couch. He crossed his arms. “No tincture.”

“No?” The corner of Taeil’s full lips twitched in disgust. “I have exactly four things to say about that. Bedbugs. Scabies. Lice. Fleas.”

Johnny sat stubbornly on the couch for a few more minutes before he jumped up, cursing. “I’ll get it, I’ll get it!”

Taeil kept his tincture in a small green flask. They treated each room, drops in each corner, vaporizing the liquid to spread the spell throughout the apartment. Any little parasite would soon be very dead.

“Why do you have so much of this stuff?” Johnny wanted to know. “Your place is brand new. It can’t be full of bedbugs and lice.”

Taeil grimaced. “I’m working at the Henry Ford in Detroit. We get so many homeless in there and they aren’t in the best state. If I just put a little of this on every day I know I won’t be coming home with something gross. I can handle MRSA and VRE and flesh eating bacterias… but scabies…” Taeil shuddered, and put the cork back in his flask. “And as great as this has been, I’ve got to get back. I’ve got some studying to do.”

“Ok. I know I’ve taken up a lot of your time already. I appreciate you coming here with me.”

Johnny reached for his keys, but was stopped by Taeil’s small hand touching his wrist. He looked over to see the older man smiling at him warmly. “I don’t think I told you this, because you surprised me so much, but I am really glad you’re here. I’ve really missed being able to hang out with people who really understand me. You know. People who don’t freak out if I get drunk and make it rain inside the house by accident.”

Johnny grinned, remembering how long it took to dry up their dorm room.

“But you’re more than just people to me, you’re my favorite dongsaeng and I really missed you. I’m happy we can get closer again.”

“Oh, wow Taeil. Are you sure you don’t want a big, fat kiss?” Johnny laughed to cover up a sudden surge of feelings.

Taeil rolled his eyes. “Such a bastard.”

“Ahh, you’re the bastard. You’re in medical school. You won’t be able to spent time with me anyhow.” Johnny tried not to sound like he was disappointed.

“I’ll figure something out. I really want you to meet my girlfriend. And I want you to check in with me so I can be sure you’re doing ok.” And Taeil was being serious, so Johnny nodded and smiled at him sincerely.

“I will.”

Johnny dropped Taeil off, and starting unloading all his stuff from the car when he returned. While this was going on, the neighbor across the street came out onto his porch and watched. The house across the street was huge, much bigger than Johnny’s and the one next to his. The person watching looked like a guy about his age, and Johnny wondered if the other house was apartments for college students or something like that. He found being watched annoying, not only because it was rude but also since his back was starting to hurt from carrying boxes and bags and he could have used a hand. Just as Johnny was taking out his speaker and board (his last load) the guy came across the street.

“Hey.” The guy smiled warmly, showing cute dimples. “I’m Jeffrey. Buy you can call me Jae.”

“Johnny.” He set the speaker down and shook hands with the guy. Jay wasn’t as tall as Johnny, but he had a solid look that made Johnny think he wouldn’t be a good person to mess with. He also had a killer grip on the handshake. “Are you Korean? You have that look, even with your blond hair.”

“Yeah, I am Korean. You?”

“Halfsies.” Johnny grinned. “Nice to meet you, neighbor.”

“Need some help?”

“You can take that speaker.”

“Sure.” Jeffrey smirked and hefted the heavy box like he could have done it with one hand. “So what brings you to the hood?”

“Going to school.” Johnny led the neighbor up the stairs.

“You cut it kind of close, didn’t you? Summer classes start tomorrow!” Jeffrey sounded incredulous.

“That’s how I roll.” Johnny led Jae up the second set of stairs. “You can put it down here.” His guitar was already there on its stand, and his large electronic keyboard case was against the wall. He set his dj board next to it.

“Musician?” Jeffrey asked, eyes glinting from the electric lights.

Johnny considered, for a brief instant. “Yeah, I’m a musician. How about you? Are you a student?”

“Yes, I am. I’m in my second year at Wayne State.”

“Are you renting across the street?”

“No.” Jae’s smile was small, secretive. “I’ve always lived there. Its my – family home. Well, I need to get going Johnny. I hope you like the neighborhood.”

“I’ll see you out.” Johnny was being polite; his mother would have approved the way he walked his neighbor out onto the porch. Dusk had turned to darkness in the time he and Jay had been talking. The wind had picked up, and rustled through the leaves of the trees and the bushes. It blew Johnny’s hair, making him push it back with one hand to keep it out of his eyes. Street lights were on, yellow stars in the darkness, and the full moon hovered across the street over Jae’s home.

Johnny watched as Jae went down the steps, paused, and turned back around. The porch light kindled glimmers in his blond hair as he tilted his head up to meet Johnny’s eyes. “I just wanted to warn you … There are packs of wild dogs that run these neighborhoods at night. They aren’t dangerous for people unless people mess with them. If you see them – just go the other way. They’ll leave you alone.”

“Uh. Okay?” Johnny had never seen a wild pack of dogs. Didn’t think he wanted to see one.

“You’re not a hunter or something, are you?” Jae’s voice was suddenly deeper; his eyes glinted darkly.

“No. I don’t even own a gun.”

“Ha. I wouldn’t say that around here if I were you. Goodnight, Johnny.” Showing those dimples again, Jae turned and made his way back across the street to his home. The windows were lit in the large house, and when the door opened for the boy it sent out a long narrow light across the grass until it closed behind him.

Johnny closed and locked his two doors, and used a broom he found in the pantry to sweep up the bug carcasses that suddenly littered the hardwood floors. He made a frozen dinner in the microwave and ate it sitting in bed. Why not? Nobody was going to yell at him for it. Johnny tried to read, but ended up listening to the wind as it whistled around the edges of the house. The sound was soothing, like waves on the beach. He was half asleep when a loud POP from outside startled him up, heart beating fast.

_Was that a gunshot?_


	3. Chapter 3

The first time Johnny had attended Modern British Poetry, he’d been ten minutes late. It wasn’t his fault since he had trouble finding a parking spot, and he was still learning where everything was.

The second time he was supposed to come to class, he slept through it.

For the first time in years, Johnny was wallowing in the peace of solitude. He slept when he was tired - wherever he happened to be – bed, couch, floor - and ate when he was hungry. Some days he drank too. Craft beer Wednesdays and Whiskey Saturdays were his favorites. He spent a lot of time in the attic, getting re-acquainted with his Fender Strat and his hollowbody guitar, making his fingers sore because his guitar callouses were gone from his fingertips. He played songs on his electronic keyboard until his eyes were tired and his fingers missed the notes. Sometimes he sang, especially when the song was sad. Self indulgently, he played The Song of Silence over and over, sometimes throwing in Knocking On Heaven’s Door. Some afternoons he would wake up with the thirst to make the best mix ever and hook his computer to his board, putting hours of work into a bare 15 minutes of sound. Often he read books laying on the couch in the front room, barely noting the way the sunlight moved across the room as hours spun away.

In two weeks he became nocturnal. He went to the market at 2am for ice cream if he wanted some with a beanie pulled over his dirty hair. He was letting himself have a surfeit of all the things he had missed the most – solitude, music and reading – to the exclusion of anything else.

He met the downstairs neighbor. Bertrand was an african american man in his forties, overweight enough to walk with a rolling gait, friendly and talkative. He brought a middle eastern bean pie to the door for a welcome gift. “I know it sounds crazy right? Bean Pie? The street vendor gave me one for free, and I’ve been addicted ever since. It tastes like a mix between pumpkin and sweet potato. You’re going to love it.”

He ate the pie, and left the tin on his counter with the accumulated pizza boxes and ramen papers. He would fix up the kitchen soon, but there was a song itching in his head and needed the way out. He went upstairs and wrote the song, playing it on the guitar and the keyboard until he was tired and then he just stretched out in the sleeping bag he kept up there. The light didn’t wake him until nearly 3pm, when sunshine hit his face. He was chagrined to think he’d missed a class but it was Craft Beer Wednesday. He managed to get out of the house and to the market by 7pm, where he picked up some Two Hearted Ales and Taboule to go.

It was a little embarrassing when he woke on Thursday at 4pm to see Taeil standing at the foot of the couch. He very much regretted giving the med student his extra key. “Wow,” His friend had remarked, surveying the place. “How did you make such a mess in such a short time?”

Taeil had scolded him and forced him to clean up. He’d also made him promise to get up and go to bed at a normal time. And shower. Daily. “Get your shit together Johnny, or I’m calling your mother.” He’d threatened before he left.

Johnny realized that he was going to sink in the pit of his own bullshit if he didn’t do exactly what Taeil had told him to do. With much pain and suffering, he made himself get up everyday at 10 am until it wasn’t hard anymore.

The third week, Johnny came to Poetry right on time. His hair was clean, his eyes were awake, and if there were dark circles under them – well, what college student got enough sleep? He sat by a pretty girl with wavy brown hair. He’d seen her at the first class, and had called her Poetry Girl inside his head ever since. When class was over, he was planning to ask Poetry Girl for her notes; before he could, she tapped him on the arm.

“Hey. Are you an international student?” She had big green eyes and a flawless complexion, with soft cheeks that showed just the hint of cheekbone. Her voice was lower than he expected too, a rich mellow alto.

“Not unless you consider Illinois another country,” He replied with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Ah. Out of state, hunh? Listen.” She leaned forward, holding his gaze. “This may sound too pushy – if so, ignore me. But I’m on this Asian American club. It helps international students get used to being in America, make friends, work on the language. Would you be interested? We always need more Americans to join.”

“Um. I don’t know?” Johnny couldn’t think of any good reason to say no, and that scared him. He didn’t want to make a commitment because this girl had a nice smile. Her perfume was nice too. Damn. Why did she have to be an obnoxious join my club person?

“Well – consider it. It’s a good way to meet new people for out-of-staters too. YOLO.” She shrugged, which moved things on her upper body in an interesting way.

“Did you actually YOLO?” Johnny started laughing. “I thought I was the only one who still did that. I’m Johnny, by the way.”

“Elizabeth. Beth for short.”

Johnny made sure his smile was charming. “Beth. Do you have the notes from last class?”

“I think I do have those notes, Johnny.” She started zipping her bag.

“Can I take a pic?”

“I’m going to get food. I’ve got to go now or I’ll hit the rush and I’ve got another class in an hour. If you want to tag along, I’ll show you the best baked potato joint in town,” She grinned in a friendly way.

“Deal.” Johnny felt a small rush of adrenaline. Damn, all he had to do was shower and Poetry girl asked him out.

Johnny couldn’t help but notice how tall she was as they walked together. The muscles in her arm moved visibly under her tanned skin when she slung her backpack over her shoulder. The rest of her was just as muscular, since yoga pants don’t lie – except the parts that were nicely padded. Johnny appreciated the visual. “So- let me guess. You do crossfit?”

“People always ask me that.” She wrinkled her small nose. “No, I’m on the Uni volleyball team, and I’ll live and breathe volleyball until January anyway.” She looked at him curiously. “Do you do crossfit?”

Johnny had a moment to be pleased that he looked that good. “I did last summer. It was fun. Maybe I’ll try again this summer.”

“Well, if you want to work out for cheap you can use the athletic center on campus. It’s free to all the students.”

She talked about some points of interest as they walked, and Johnny realized that she wasn’t asking him out but was instead taking him under her wing. She must have decided that he was lonely, and needed to be shown around a little. He was disappointed at first, because, ego; but the baked potatoes were amazing and he took pics of all her very organized notes. He liked her dry sense of humor and her down to earth forthrightness. They exchanged numbers before parting ways; Poetry Girl promised him that if he wanted to go work out with her, she could whip him into shape in no time. It made Johnny feel surprisingly happy.

_I made a normie friend._

That night he read his poetry book in bed, with the window half-open because the night was just the right temperature. He was at the end of the dog poem by Seamus Heaney, reading

“And nothing that the dog would tell him later  
Could change that vision. Great chiefs and great loves  
In obliterated light, the toad in mud,  
The dog crying out all night behind the corpse house”

He heard the howling then, again.

He heard sounds at night often. There were loud noises that could be gunshots, and this howling – it was the third time he had heard it. Now that he wasn’t in the attic with headphones on his ears, lost in another world, it sounded close and present.

Johnny got out of bed and padded to his front room without turning on the light. He stood at the window, and opened it with some effort; the paint had filled in the cracks and didn’t want to let go. The moon was waxing full again, lighting the quiet street below, and Johnny thought he saw something slinking furtively around Jae’s house.

Without really thinking about it, Johnny unfurled the power of his Sight. It was a talent wizards had; the true Sight could not be stopped with darkness, but it saw only living things or magical constructs. It was how wizards could detect spells and read the auras of those around them. Johnny had kept his locked down since he’d left home, but now curiosity made him extend it outward.

He couldn’t sense anybody inside the house. That was odd, because he had noted the house held something like four generations of Jae’s family. Old people sat on the porch on sunny days, and some members left and returned each day like they had regular jobs. The family must have owned four or five cars between them, and were always jockeying for the best parking spots on the street. Children that lived in that house rode their bikes and tossed baseballs in the yard, and women with strollers watched over them.

It was such an oddity that the house was empty now.

Around the house, though; outside, and ranging into the wild lots were many shapes, many energy signatures. They glowed more brightly than regular humans in his Sight, green patterns tracing over their forms as they moved in harmony with one another. They surged, bunched together and spread apart, performing a smooth choreography as they moved. He heard the howling again as the shapes went farther, and Johnny drew his Sight back inward.

He stood there looking at his windowsill, heart beating a little faster than normal. He was no master wizard, but he knew what he’d Seen. A shifter had once come to school in animal form – she had been a cat – and all the students had looked at her to commit that aura to memory. She had glowed so green, the patterns moving so quickly across her form it was almost impossible to tell what she was from Sight alone.

Johnny turned and walked on silent feet back to his bedroom. So, he was living across the street from a whole family of shifters, who liked to run around together out in the empty lots at night. Well – fine. It was not his problem, and not his business.

He had a bunch of reading to catch up on.

He was taking three classes, and managed to attend all of them that week. He’d put together a half-hour tape with some killer mixes and read another book. He thought that he was starting to have his fill of solitude when he received a text

Beth: Hey johnny man. My Asian American club meeting is tonight at 7pm. Why don’t you come? YOLO.

Johnny: It sounds terrible. I’ll be there. Just tell me when and where.

Johnny didn’t change his clothes because he was trying to impress anybody. He just thought the black skinny jeans looked better than his sweatpants – and the blue long sleeve showed off his broad shoulders and his collarbones. He made sure his hair was looking good too, brushing it to one side. And if he did say so himself – even though he wasn’t trying – he looked damn good. It was just starting to rain when Johnny ran out to his jeep. He’d just gotten in when he was startled by someone knocking on the window. Surprised, he rolled it down. “Jae?”

The young man was standing under the pelt of the rain. “Hey are you heading to the college? Could I catch a ride?”

“Sure, get in.” Johnny offered. He wasn’t going to discriminate. It wasn't Jae's fault he was a shifter, and it wasn't Johnny's business.

Jae got in the jeep and they drove toward the college in silence. When Johnny pulled into the lot, he asked Jae, “Where are you headed? Class?”

“No, I do this club. I have a meeting tonight.”

“The Asian American club?”

“That’s the one.” Jae’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Johnny. “You, too?”

“I… Yeah.” He shrugged, eyed the other guy. “Elizabeth?”

Jae started chuckling. “She got me the first week of school.”

“Damn. Hooked like a fish by a pair of green eyes.” Johnny mourned. He noted Jae’s hair was combed back, and he was better dressed than the first time he’d seen him as well. Jae was quite a bit better than average looking. Maybe even handsome. Not that Johnny even cared.

“Its really kind of fun. Clubs look good on your resume.” Jae’s dimples made their appearance. “And you get to stare at Elizabeth for an hour.”

“You’re right. Lets go.”

They ran through the rain into the building. Jae knew the way, and they entered a classroom on the first floor. There were about twenty-five people there, with a large mix of ethnicities and cultures. What seemed universal is that everyone was stuffing themselves with the snacks that were set out, a bunch of things that the members had baked and brought. Beth circulated around the group, making sure everyone found somebody to talk to and placing new people with others that knew more. Her warm smile drew people in, and the shyest students seemed to gather near her. She had Johnny talk to a Chinese girl that was pre-med; he was just about to ask her if she knew Taeil when a noise from the door happened to make him look over.

Beth was already there, holding her hands out to the boy that was making his entrance.

The boy was lean and delicate, with pale luminous skin and raven dark hair. His feline eyes were large and liquid, and his soft lips were dark pink, almost red. He moved with a floating grace that was amazing to behold, like music followed in his wake, or the air sparkled where he had left it. This boy glowed, as if he was a brighter and finer creature than any other in the room. Johnny was left speechless, staring at this exquisiteness. Elizabeth took his fine hands. Next to this alabaster and onyx beauty she was an overblown rose, colors too gauche and gaudy in comparison. “Ten! I’m so happy you came.” Her low voice was honey.

Ten tilted his head as he looked up at her, long neck slightly arched, graceful as a swan. “I’m sorry Elizababy! I had to take a piss! It took me forever to find the toilets,” His voice was too loud, even jarring, but the smile that came across his face was like a heatwave in Johnny’s heart.

_Holy shit. I’ve never seen someone like this before._

“Do you forgive me? Give me a hug!” the boy insisted. Since he was quite a bit shorter than the volleyball player, he was lucky enough to hug the most cuddly parts of her anatomy.

“Pfft.” Jae made a sputtering sound.

Beth peeled him off, and turned to the classroom with her hand on his shoulder. “Everyone, this is another new member of our group. His name is Ten, and he’s from Thailand. Please make him welcome!” People called out greetings and Ten waved happily, his smile raising the temperature in the room, at least for Johnny. “C’mon this way, Ten.”

“Okay, Elizababy!” Ten bent over and scooped something up from the floor. Johnny blinked when he saw that it was a small black cat, and Ten was lifting it up so it could sit on his shoulders. The cat curled around the back of his head, tail dangling down one side of his chest, head curled against his pale neck on the other side. Its fur was lush and a bluer black than Ten’s own hair. Its green eyes stared unblinking around the room, from person to person.

Damn. He’d been so caught up in looking at the boy, he hadn’t noticed the damn cat coming into the room.

He tried to talk to the Chinese girl, but he was so distracted watching Ten that he knew he was doing a terrible job. When he saw Beth bringing the boy toward him, he didn’t know if he was electrified or terrified; whatever it was, Beth’s knowing eyes had seen it.

“Johnny, why don’t you talk to Ten for a while? He can speak English, but he has a little trouble with our culture. Some of our norms are different for him, like how we don’t take our cats to class.” But she was smiling fondly. “Chunhua, please come and talk to me for a while.”

Ten sat in the vacated seat. He stared at Johnny with his slanted midnight eyes, and the cat stared with her emerald ones. “Hi, I’m Ten. I’m a student here. I am taking classes in English language and culture. This is my cat. I call her Kaya.” Johnny liked the brightness in his accented voice. He wanted to keep on hearing it.

“I’m Johnny. I’m from Chicago, and I’m here to study Literature.”

“So, Johnny.” Ten leaned forward, eyes intent.

“Yes?” Johnny mirrored him.

“What do you feel about the whole eating, digesting, defecating thing? Because for me, I find it a real hassle. How do you deal with this every day?”

Johnny looked at the beauty in front of him and heaved a mental sigh of anguish. He was weird as a two headed snake. Of course he was. He was currently wearing a cat, what did Johnny expect? “Well, there are two ways to do it. Either plan it all out, or do it as it comes. Me, I just let my body tell me what it wants. When I’m hungry I tend to eat and the rest comes naturally too.” Johnny shrugged.

“Maybe that works for you. The other day I passed out because I got dehydrated. Who can remember to drink water all the time? I want to take good care of my body but its really difficult. And why does all the food that’s good for you taste bad, while what’s bad for you taste good?”

“I’ve asked myself that same question for forever,” Johnny admitted.

Ten started rambling on about something else when Johnny met the cat’s eyes again. They were half lidded, and the way the light hit them made them look like they were glowing. The cat didn’t really look too friendly. Johnny wasn’t going to try to pet it.

“Johnny? Were you looking at Kaya?” Ten was smiling faintly. “Don’t be scared of her. She’s not as mean as she looks.”

“I’m not scared of her.”

Ten tilted his head as he gazed knowingly into Johnny’s eyes. “I guess _you_ wouldn’t be.” Even though he’d been happily talking nonsense, now there was a sharpness to his gaze that cut through Johnny’s dazzled perusal of his face.

Johnny felt his mouth go dry as he gazed back. A flight of surmises staggered him. He concentrated then, and pulled his Sight in so hard that he felt like his chest was tight and breathing was a chore. A little Sight always spilled, even when it was kept contained… and now Johnny’s was locked down tight….

Ten didn’t glow. He was still delicate and pretty, his eyes still feline and mysterious – but that alluring luminosity was now just milky pale skin, shown off by a loose black t-shirt.

The other boy gazed at Johnny curiously, reaching up to pet the cat with tender fingers. “Something wrong?”

“All kinds of things,” Johnny breathed, releasing his hold on the Sight and watching Ten kindle up again. _His fucking aura is visible when I'm not even trying to see it._

_He’s not a normie._

Ten was chattering again, now about attending classes and how hard it was to learn the etiquette for when he should talk and when he shouldn’t, and how was he supposed to know that you still shouldn’t take off your shoes even though your feet are really hot. Johnny watched him, wondering if he was as stupid as he sounded, if it was an act, if he knew what kind of incandescent bait he looked like.

_This kid is not my problem. What he is. What he’s up to. Shit I can’t stop looking at him._

One of the club members came to Ten and Johnny, letting them know about a secret plan to show up at Elizabeth’s volleyball game on Saturday afternoon. Ten grew loud and giddy immediately, and had to be shushed by Johnny lest he give everything away. His enthusiasm quenched so quickly it made Johnny worry he had been too vehement.

“I’m sorry. I make a lot of mistakes,” Ten apologized, quietly, eyes searching Johnny’s to see if he was angry. “I’m still learning how to live here. Are you going to the game, Johnny?”

“I’ll go if you do,” Johnny blurted without thinking.

“Good, we will both be there. Elizababy will win for sure.” Ten’s incandescent smile made Johnny warm in all the nicest places, warm even though Ten was not a normie and Johnny had an idea of what he might be.

_It was not Johnny’s business._

_But maybe Ten needed someone to help him._

When the meeting was over, Ten ran and slid under Elizabeth’s arm as if it was his rightful place, like he was her little brother or something. He clutched his cat against his bony chest, slight and fragile next to the athletic girl, all big eyes and curiosity. Jae was trying to chat with Elizabeth, and looked at Ten with murder in his eyes for interrupting.

“C’mon Jae, lets go,” Johnny called his neighbor, already feeling protective of Ten.

The rain had stopped, and the two walked around and through rain puddles. The parking lot lights had fuzzy auras from the humidity, and the moisture clung to Johnny’s exposed skin like a warm, exhaled breath.

Inside the jeep, Jae tapped his fingers on the door as Johnny started the car. “It looks like we have a lot in common, don’t we? Same college. Same friend. Same club,” Jae mused aloud. His eyes caught the headlights of a passing car, glittering.

“It seems like it.” Johnny agreed, heading toward home. His tires threw splashes of water as he drove through puddles on the side of the road.

Jae’s voice got lower. “So lets tell the truth, hunh?”

Johnny felt his body tense. “The truth about what?”

“We know what you are. The elders are nervous about a warlock living across the street from them. They want to know why you’re there. They don’t want trouble.”

Johnny glanced at Jae, and saw him move his hand to hover near his waistband. The shifter looked relaxed but something about his eyes said something different. “You got a gun there?” Johnny asked, mouth drawing down in a frown as he looked back at the road. He gripped the wheel to stop his hands from shaking.

“I’m offering to talk, but if you want to do something else I’m down for that too,” Jae slid his shirt back, showing the butt of the gun against his pale skin. “Don’t try any of your shit on me.”

 

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Senses preternaturally alert, Jae saw the warlock’s hands tighten on the wheel. Jae could scent the fear stink on him, covering up the faint sizzling scent of magic that always followed the man around. The shifter’s sensitive hearing could even pick up the sudden ragged pace of Johnny’s heart as adrenaline rushed through his bloodstream.

 _Never trust a warlock._ One wrong move, and the gun at his waistband would be in his hand. Jae knew the other man was no match for his reflexes, since he shared some of the skills of his other form. He was quicker and stronger than he looked. He almost wished the bastard would try him; he’d love a nice bloody fight on a rainy night.

Johnny’s handsome, good natured face hardened into a cold mask as he met Jae’s eyes. “Calm down, kid. I’m not who you think I am.” His easygoing tone was now darker, more authoritative.

“Sure. You seem like a nice guy, friendly neighbor, right? That’s how you fuckers get close to people like us. We lost someone to one of you a couple years ago, and I’m not going to let it happen again.” His hand inched closer to the gun butt, infinitesimally closer.

“I’m not a _warlock_. You should find out who you’re shooting before you take the shot.” Johnny’s face wore a twisted smile. “You can believe me. You don’t want to mess with what would be coming for you if you hurt me.” Johnny didn’t sound like he was bragging. It was his lack of bravura that made Jae think he might be telling the truth.

“Is that so? Who the hell are you, then?” Jae demanded.

“I’m a fucking wizard, you dumbass shifter!”

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Jae digested Johnny’s words, and they made his stomach queasy. It was one thing to threaten a warlock, who was essentially a criminal anyway. It was quite another issue to do it to a wizard. They were the cops, judges and enforcers of order in the invisible world; it wasn’t wise to tease them. “What the hell is a wizard doing living in an upstairs flat in the hood?” Jae wondered aloud.

“Fuck. If you really wanted to know you could have just asked me nicely.” Johnny gave Jae a sour look. “C’mon, lone ranger. Lets go get a damn drink. I know a place.” The wizard pulled the jeep into a u-turn and the wheels squalled on the wet pavement.

The place was a dive bar next to the 24-hour market. Jae’s sensitive nose was assaulted by the stink of stale beer, nachos and old sweat as he walked inside behind Johnny. It wasn’t busy, but there were probably enough people to deter prolifigate use of magic. Johnny sat in a booth by the pool tables, and Jae slid in the opposite side.

“Two Molsons,” Johnny told the waiter, who didn’t care enough to card them. The weight of the gun pulled at Jae’s waistband as he continued to watch the man across from him. Johnny had an attractive heart-shaped face, with full, sensual lips. His hazel eyes were clear and deep-set under straight dark brows. He had a presence about him, partially due to his height and large, rangy frame, but also from his calm and controlled demeanor. He hadn’t panicked, even when Jae was threatening him, and the shifter had to respect that.

Johnny had pulled out his wallet when he ordered; now he opened it. “I assume you’ve seen one of these before?” He pulled out a black card and flicked it up to hold between his two fingers.

The black surface of the card began to change at Johnny’s touch. Jae stared as Johnny’s likeness appeared in sharp relief. The hair was shorter than it was now, but it was unmistakeably Johnny. Then the image faded, changing to a stylized etching of a familiar skyline with the initials “CS” overtop in black. The picture was changing back to Johnny’s face again when he proferred the card to Jae.

Tentatively, Jae took the magical object, expecting some kind of electric shock but nothing happened. It felt strangely silky under his sensitive fingertips. As Johnny released the card, it darkened again. Now a silvery script appeared on the card, reading;

Johnny Seo/Seo Youngho  
Journeyman  
Chicago Sorciere  
_simus lux in tenebris est gladio_  

“Its my journeyman card. It’s keyed straight into my energies and it won’t read for anybody else. If anyone else tried to alter it or reset it, it would blow up in his face.” Johnny raised an eyebrow. “Convinced?”

Jae stared at the man across from him, feeling his throat go a little dry. _Shit._ Of all the Sorcieres in the country, Chicago was known as one of the most ruthless, and its justice was swift and blind. Shifters knew to stay away from that city if they valued their freedom to live in the other form. “I know what it is,” Jae admitted, turning the card in his hands. “I’ve seen one before.” That one had belonged to the wizard they had hired to find his missing cousin. He’d found him, but not soon enough.

Johnny’s look was intent. “How did you _know_ , by the way? I haven’t done anything magical while I’ve been here.”

“You smell like magic.” Jae told him bluntly.

“I do?” The wizard was surprised. “I don’t see how. Even my aura is locked down to body level, lower than even a normie.”

“You don’t believe me?” Jae was amused. “And you think you know what I am.”

Johnny took the beer the waiter brought, and swigged down half of it without even trying. “Your pack doesn’t try to hide it much, running around all over town and howling all damn night.”

Jae slid the card back across the table. “That’s why we live here, where we don’t have wizards breathing down our necks every time we go out for a little hunt. If you’re here I hope you plan to respect our quaint traditions. If you do I’m sure we will all get along just fine. You’re an okay guy, Johnny, and I’m glad you weren’t a warlock. Because I would have had to run you off or kill you.”

Johnny’s head snapped up at the words, and his eyes narrowed. “Is that what you do to warlocks around here?”

“Fuck yes we do, without asking questions first.” Jae bragged.

Johnny’s mouth pursed at the shifter’s aggressive tone, and Jae sensed he’d struck a sore spot. “You’re pretty bold for a lone shifter. Don’t you people normally work in groups?”

“I don’t need a group to protect my house.” Jae glared at the other man.

Johnny’s mouth twisted in a little smirk, and the knowing look in his eyes gave Jae a strange prickly feeling. “I’m starting to get the gist of what’s happening here. You took the gun without permission, hunh. Ran out to do some hero-stuff on the warlock across the street. Seriously, you’re so fucking stupid.” Johnny barked a laugh before he picked up the beer and drained it, wiping his mouth with his sleeve afterward. “If I was really a warlock you’d be dead by now.”

“The fuck you say,” Jae blustered, pissed at Johnny calling him out like that.

Johnny raised a finger to the waiter for another beer, then leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table. His hazel eyes glinted with sharp amusement. “The first kind of warlock you could have hurt, I’ll admit. The kind that’s just learning, the kind that is a scared kid who doesn’t know how to control his powers. You could kill him or run him off, and he’d use the experience to become an even greater menace. Thank you Jae.” When the shifter was about to protest, Johnny held up two fingers. “The second kind of warlock would have taken you to the waterfront. He’d have sucked up the energy from the running water, and used his best spells to scrag you – whether they were fire, air, or electric. If it was a higher level warlock, he would have let his imps come down and burst your heart before you got a shot off. Even here.” Johnny pantomimed dropping something in Jae’s beer. “A minute of distraction and you’re poisoned – or given a love potion, depending on what the warlock has on hand. Just one shifter is no match for a warlock. You need numbers to distract him and draw his spells so some of the group can get through to attack. Don’t you remember learning that? Its basic as hell.”

Jae flushed at Johnny’s tone. “Don’t patronize me, you fucker. You didn’t look like much so I figured I would handle you myself.”

Johnny chuckled, and the honest amusement in his face eased some of Jae’s irritation. The wizard shrugged. “You’re right, I’m not much. I barely graduated. All I want to do is live my life. Don’t make it hard for me, ok?” The other beer came, and Johnny turned it around with his fingers. “Its my shithouse luck that lands me in a house across the street from a pack of shifters. I’ll never rent a place off the internet again.”

“Well, it could be worse. You aren’t gonna get robbed with us prowling around.”

“That’s true. I’d cry if somebody stole my Strat. So… Jae. You told me you are a sophomore at the university. Just how old are you?”

“I’m nineteen. Why?” Jae prickled at the question. He was tired of being told he was too young to do the things he wanted to do, or thought he should have the right to do. Age was a sensitive subject with him.

“Just curious.” Johnny hesitated, then asked his question. “Who were you trying to impress with all of this?” Johnny’s gesture took in everything; the gun, the confrontation, Jae’s anger.

This time Jae could feel himself flush. Johnny was too perceptive, and it was starting to get embarrassing. “I just had a difference of opinion with somebody, that’s all. _He_ had us watching you night and day, while _I_ thought a more direct approach was best. Now I’ve got the information, we can probably leave you alone to do your thing, and we can go back to doing ours.”

This time Johnny was rattled; it was obvious from the uneasy look on his face. “Yeah, I guess that’s good for all of us. Here’s to your intrepid plan.” Johnny saluted Jae with his beer bottle. “Hope you can convince them to stop watching me. That’s creepy, man.”

“I’ll do my best, if you do something for me.”

“What’s that?” Johnny raised his eyebrows.

“I’m going to ask Beth out. I don’t know if you have the hots for her or what – but don’t interfere.” Jae lifted up the beer, took a swig of the nasty tasting stuff. Johnny was tall, and good looking, but he hadn’t noticed his crush paying any more attention to him than anybody else. “Beth is my destiny.”

“Oh. Okay.” Johnny agreed, obviously trying not to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Jae was defensive.

“She’s a senior, kid. Do you think you have a chance?”

“Are you kidding? I’ll wear a tank top. And look at this smile.” Jae was suddenly angelic, pointing both fingers at his adorable dimples as he grinned. “I’m irresistible.”

“Well good luck. You’re going to need it.”

“Fuck you, Johnny.” Jae gave him the finger.

“I can tell this is going to be a beautiful friendship.” Johnny was dry.

“Hey, you could do worse. At least I’m loyal.” Jae laughed at the look on the wizard’s face. “I’m hungry. Lets order burgers.”

They got back home an hour later, with rain still falling and the night dark as a warlock’s soul under thick clouds. Jae ran toward the lighted windows of his house, leaving Johnny to his own devices.

The old people usually went to sleep early, and the kids as well, leaving only the young adults and middle aged up this late. When Jae burst in the door, he could see a group gathered around the tv in the living room, watching some movie in the dark. The light from the den was on as well, probably indicating someone gaming. Jae called a response to the greetings a few of the family shouted out, and toed off his wet shoes at the doorway.

Humming under his breath, Jae went to the large kitchen down the hall. He had eaten a burger, but a bowl of chips would be nice and then he could finish the movie with the others. He’d just turned on the light when Hansol came in from the other direction. The other young man was in gray sweats, his tall muscular frame relaxed as he leaned against the doorjamb. His dark hair was mussed, and his dark eyes were unblinking as he regarded Jae. “Its your night to watch him,” Hansol’s voice was deep yet soft.

“I’m not watching him.” Casually, Jae went up to the cupboard and grabbed a bag of chips.

“Who said you didn’t have to?” Hansol asked, deceptively quiet.

Jae turned his head and glared at his older cousin. “I said I didn’t have to.”

“You’re not the leader of this pack yet, Jeffrey. You don’t get to say what you do and don’t do.” Hansol straightened, dropping his indolent pose.

“You’re not the leader of this pack either, Hansol. I don’t answer to your ass.” Jae pulled a bowl out of the dishwasher and smelled the scent of heat and sweat as Hansol struggled to control a surge of anger. He poured a generous amount of chips in the bowl. “It’s a waste of time and resources to watch Johnny day and night, so I decided to find out a little more about him.”

“You weren’t supposed to do that.” Hansol’s nostrils flared as he took a breath.

“Well, I did.” Jae grinned, popping a chip in his mouth. “Do you know what I found out? He’s a wizard. He’s a fucking law abiding bitch of a wizard, who only wants to be left alone to attend classes and become an alcoholic.”

“And how did you find that out?” Hansol stared at Jae.

“How do you think? I asked him nicely.” Jae didn’t mention the gun down his pants. He knew that Johnny was right, and he’d been stupid as hell to confront the wizard by himself; he wasn’t going to give Hansol that kind of ammunition against him. He hadn’t been thinking straight when he’d conceived of the plan, but he was just so sick of inactivity, of watching. It was against everything that his instincts told him to do. Jae was a leader, with the aggressive nature and desire to dominate that came with it. Life in this pack was nothing but frustrating to him.

He was just so, so sick of the elders always agreeing with what Hansol wanted to do. Of course the final word was with the pack leader, but he was so old and gray now that he was overly cautious and tended to let the majority rule. And the majority sided with Hansol. Because he was as old and cautious in his heart as any elder.

There had been no leader born into their parents generation, and now there was an embarrassment of riches with two born within three years of each other. The two had played together as kids and pups and hunted together as adolescents, but now their differences were making it hard for them to get along. Both of them were naturally grappling for dominance as rivals.

“How do you know he’s a wizard?” Hansol gritted. “He could have tricked you. Or put a spell on you to make you believe him.”

“He had one of those fancy cards from the Chicago Sorciere. Lets have him over for our Sunday barbeque. I’m sure he’d be happy to show it to you.” Jae shrugged, and made a rude gesture. “He’s a wizard. Suck it.”

“You’re fucking out of hand, Jae. Someone needs to get a handle on you before you hurt yourself.” Hansol was disgusted. “Grow up.”

“Okay. I will if you… suck it.” Grinning, Jae sauntered up to his cousin. Hansol was taller, but Jae was broader; they were evenly matched on most things, but Jae liked to think that he wasn’t done growing so that could change. “Feel like a friendly tussle, cuz? Some bare knuckle boxing? Or do you wanna go wolf and play till first blood?”

The flash of Hansol’s eyes gave away that he really, really wanted to. “I can’t. I’ve got work in the morning. Someone’s got to earn money around here so we can put your lazy ass through school.”

“Okay, maybe on Saturday.” Jae left Hansol there seething and went to watch tv with the others. Even though they were older, one of the family members moved off the couch to give Jae a place to sit. The young man took the place without thinking much about it, naturally accepting the respect the family gave a leader. He settled in to eat his chips happily. He didn’t much care if he had pissed Hansol off, since Hansol did it to him on a regular basis. This time, he figured, he had won.

Jae went up to his tiny room after midnight. He didn’t mind the size; other than him and Hansol, all the other kids had to share rooms. Even if it was small it was nice to have a place to call his own. Jae carefully unchambered the round from his Glock and released the clip, making sure all of the bullets were out. There were too many kids around to keep a loaded gun just laying in his room; he knew how curious they were, and what mischief they could get into. He put the bullets back into the cardboard box they’d come from, and put the gun up in the back of his closet.

After getting cleaned up, Jae turned out the lights and got into bed. He could still see everything clearly, almost as much as he could in daylight, but he loved the mystery and calmness of the darkness. A few well-placed insults, and he was sure he could entice Hansol to go hunting again on Saturday night. It was fun to hunt with his cousin; nobody else in the pack could match the two of them for skills, and Jae always loved a challenge. Ghosting over the ground, racing side by side, following scents to find the prey, treeing the prey, cornering them, circling and going in for the kill… there was nothing like the first burst of hot blood in his mouth, the exhilaration of the hunt completed.

But there was another kind of hunt as well. Jae thought about the volleyball game, and figured that wasn’t such a great time to get to know Beth better. He should be there though, supporting her along with the rest of the club. It wouldn’t be a bad time to ask her to do something else, either. He had confidence in his smile; all the girls in his previous high school had fallen for it, when he hadn't even been trying. It was a little unnerving at first, when he began receiving notes in his locker and shameless stares throughout the day; it had been a lot for a boy who had been home schooled for eight years, and was hiding a big secret. He'd become used to it in time, and the school was used to him as well, since all his cousins had gone there and lettered in sports before him. Girls were something that were fun, but easy; no big deal.

Of course, his thoughts had changed on that when he'd seen who his lab partner was in Chemistry. 

If he could get her alone, he could figure out what was the deal with that girl. There was something tantalizing about her, something he couldn’t place, but something he was pretty sure that he needed.


	5. Chapter 5

Johnny glanced quickly into the mirror before he left. He wore black Nike sweatpants with a black Nike baseball cap, and definitely looked like he wasn’t trying too hard. He sauntered out into a warm early summer day, enjoying the feel of the sunshine on his skin as he walked out to his Jeep. Jae was across the street, playing catch with a couple of his young cousins. The boys ran all over the yard, jockeying to be the one to catch the ball and throw it back.

“You ready?” Johnny shouted over.

“Yeah, I’m coming.” Jae tossed his glove on the porch while the boys whined in disappointment and ran forward to wrap thin arms around him to prevent him from going. Jae laughed fondly and patted their heads. “I’ll play with you kids later, ok? We can go to the park and do some batting.”

The boys perked up then and let him go, and Jeffrey hurried to the car before they could tackle him again.

Jae was in good spirits as he hopped in the car. The younger guy was wearing an old-school sleeveless Pistons jersey showing off his broad shoulders and nicely muscled arms. His hair was a little messy but looking good on him. There was the faintest whiff of cologne about him too. “Seems funny, doesn’t it. A couple days ago we were going to kill or be killed. Now we’re hanging out. Going to volleyball games and such.”

“Yeah, its funny.” Johnny was a little surprised to be in that position himself. A few days ago, an old man and woman had come knocking on his door, and a certain resemblance let Johnny know they were Jae’s elders. He’d cautiously invited them in, a little embarrassed that all he had to offer was peanuts and beer. They had politely asked to see his I.D., and after taking a good look at his journeyman card, invited him to the family barbeque on Sunday. He’d accepted of course. That’s when the kids had started to wave to him, and the women pushing strollers smile at him. Only one dark haired guy his own age seemed actively unfriendly, glaring at him when they were both coming home in the afternoon.

“I guess driving me to the game is the least you can do,” Jae relaxed back in the seat as Johnny pulled away from the houses. “From the looks of you I bet you’ll be eating a lot of meat tomorrow.”

“Hey. What’s that supposed to mean.” Johnny prepared to take umbrage. “You saying I’m fat?”

“No, you look like a guy who eats meat. For our set, it’s a compliment.” Jae sniffed at Johnny’s ignorance.

The car was hot inside, and the air conditioning started churning out cooler air. The scent of Jae’s cologne wafted past Johnny’s nose again. “I’m surprised you can wear cologne with that sensitive nose of yours. Can you smell anything else with that on?”

“I never have a problem with that. The only thing that stops me from scenting is skunk. Ugh.” Jae gave a pronounced shudder, as if he was remembering something painful.

“Ah.” _Shit,_ Johnny thought. _Well, maybe Ten won’t come. Then I won’t have to worry._

They got into the game for free with student ID. It was easy to spot where the Asian-American club was sitting; they were in a large group in the middle of the left bleacher, and were already messing around with some yellow and green posters in the air.

“Damn. I think they’re gonna be embarrassing,” Jae remarked with a laugh, leading Johnny with eager footsteps to join the group. Johnny hurried to get in front of him as they climbed the bleachers, ignoring Jae’s annoyed, “Whats the rush?”

The taller boy wasn’t sure if his heart was beating in dismay or excitement. Ten was standing halfway up the bleachers, drawing Johnny like a beacon of light as his glow bloomed brightly among the other students. He was talking to somebody while animatedly waving his hands and smiling. As soon as he spotted Johnny, he hollered his name and beckoned him over, practically dancing with delight. “You’re here! I thought you forgot!”

“No, I wouldn’t miss it.” Johnny stood there a little awkwardly until Jae elbowed him and cleared his throat. Ten looked past Johnny, his eyes sparkling in interest when he saw Jae looking back.

“Ten. Jae.” Johnny introduced the two reluctantly, continuing to stand between.

Jae offered his hand, reaching past Johnny. Ten seemed hesitant but then he placed his small hand firmly into the shifters larger one. Jae gave a startled twitch; Johnny only noticed because he was watching carefully, but then they shook hands normally.

“Nice to know you, Ten.”

“You too, Jae!” Ten flashed his blinding smile, all heat. “Here, let me give you guys one of these.” Someone in the club had made a bunch big posterboard circles and and glued them on sticks. The one that Johnny got was a green circle, and had a number 7 inked on it. Jae’s was a gold circle with an exclamation point on it.

A girl sitting on the bleacher below them turned. “It’s a game,” she explained with a sly grin, her English understandable despite a strong accent. “You’ve got number 7. When ever number 7 gets a point or an assist, you can hold up your number and we’ll pass you the flask. The exclamation point is for aces. You hold yours up whenever the other team can’t return the serve.”

“What’s in the flask?” Johnny had to ask.

“If you’re lucky you’ll find out,” the girl promised, with an appreciative look at all three of the males behind her.

“I’ve got Elizababy’s number.” Ten grinned, waving his yellow 11.

“This is the kind of game you like, Johnny.” Jae commented with a smirk. “It includes alcohol.”

“You know way too much about me, Jae.”

The younger guy laughed at Johnny’s aggrieved face. “I’ll be back in a minute, I want to go talk to some people.”

“Why don’t we sit here, Ten.” Johnny thought the other might fall if he kept jumping on the bleachers in such a careless way.

“Oh. Sure, I will.” Brightly, Ten lit next to Johnny and drew his fingernails over the ridged metal of the seats.

“Uh – how’s your cat?” Johnny wanted to ask more meaningful questions, but didn’t know how he possibly could ask them here.

Ten’s face was briefly mournful. “I was told they would not let me in here with her. I was going to try and hide her under my shirt and smuggle her in, but Elizabeth said ‘absolutely not’.”

“She might get scared and run away, with all the noise and people.” Johnny deadpanned. He didn’t think Ten’s cat would act so ordinary.

“She wouldn’t run away.” Ten looked rueful. “But I left her at home. She will be mad and probably scratch some of the things that I like. Ooh-look. Lizzy Baby!” Ten leaped up, waving his number madly as he saw Elizabeth emerging onto the court. He was so loud Johnny stopped his ears with his fingers. Several others also called her name, waving the posters too.

Elizabeth grinned widely and threw hearts up at her friends in the stands, then started to pass the ball back and forth with a teammate to warm up.

Ten sat back down, looking pleased. “She told me she is the Opp. Which is also the right side hitter. This is so exiting! I have never watched a volleyball game before. I am sure I am going to love watching sports.”

Ten’s enthusiasm was innocent and adorable. He reminded Johnny of a curious kitten, leaping after an object that caught his fancy. Ten had a charming and beautiful surface, and it was easy to get lost in talking to him or just looking at him. It was what was below the surface that worried Johnny. “Didn’t you have sports at your school?”

Ten cocked his head as he gave Johnny a curious look. “I didn’t go to school. I was in an accident when I was small and my father never wanted to send me out, so I had tutors at home. I played with my brothers and sisters of course but we didn’t play sports like they have here. Do you play any sports, Johnny?”

“I play basketball. I’m good at swimming and wakeboarding.” Johnny’s lips curved slightly, remembering his long summers at the lake.

Ten made a moue of distaste, shaking his hands in a negative motion. “Ugh! Why would anyone want to get in the middle of so much water? Nasty. You’d have dirt and bacteria running in all your orifices.”

Johnny shook his head. “Dude. You have an unnatural interest in _orfices_.”

“You can’t argue, you know I’m right. That makes me remember.” Ten snapped his fingers. “Got to drink some water. Dehydration gives me a headache.” Ten picked up a blue sports bottle from beside him, and drank a few gulps of water. His neck was long and pale, the arch of it lovely as he drank.

“What’s with you forgetting water all the time.” Johnny tried not to stare at his adam’s apple moving. “Can’t you tell when you’re thirsty?”

“No. At home I was just given what I needed, and I never had to think about doing it for myself. Just like _cooking_ and _laundry_ and _dish washing._ And going places. I never went anywhere alone when I was home. I never had to pay attention to directions so all I do is get lost around here daily. Omygod I have to retrain my brain or I will never get anywhere on time. I’m only early today because I got a ride with Lizzz.” Ten’s eyes sparkled prettily. Looking away from Johnny, he laid his palms on his thighs and glanced out on the court to watch Elizabeth. His body was slim and graceful, and he had a strange way of gathering himself; as if he was very aware of his own position in space.

Johnny felt his chest expanding with a giddy feeling of elation as he looked at the boy beside him. The feeling was bubbling up inside of him, making him feel light and buoyant and full to bursting. It felt so _good_. It made him feel more fully alive than he had in a while. He was just so irresistibly drawn to this boy, with his magical glow and his elusive beauty and his effervescent joy in everything. Being with Ten, he could feel the excitement of the world around him; he could sense everything with a greater intensity, as if everything came into high definition.

_I feel like this already, even though I know that he’s not what he seems. I have to find out if this kid is a warlock, and how far gone he is… before Jae does._

Jae hadn’t mentioned anything about smelling Ten from the meeting the other day, and Johnny had deduced that it was probably because Johnny had been near Ten the whole time. Jae already thought Johnny was a warlock. He probably just took the magic scent for Johnny’s.

If Johnny stayed near Ten, Jae wouldn’t realize that he was magical. Johnny shuddered to imagine the wolves chasing Ten down, tearing at his porcelain skin with sharp eyeteeth until he ran with crimson. They would distract him in the front while one crept behind and hamstrung him, then another would go for the jugular. Amid the spurting red, Ten’s lovely light would be extinguished and the eyes would be empty balls of glass.

_No. I won’t have it. I won’t stand by and let it happen._

Johnny couldn’t help remembering the first time he’d seen an actual witch, the female equivalent of a warlock. The headmaster had called in five of the graduating students to his office after hours. “There is a meeting of the Sorciere tonight, and you five are attending with me,” He told them without preamble. “Get your robes and be back here in five minutes.”

By the time they had returned in their blues the headmaster had donned his Master’s white robe, its pristine brightness adding even more authority to the man. They followed him to the basement, a room carved out of raw stone beneath the school. It was where the Sorceire met and justice was dispensed. Johnny had never been down there before, though he knew his parents had. Johnny had sometimes noticed energy coming up from the ground after a meeting, and had once asked one of his teachers about it.

“If you’re feeling that, your Sight isn’t locked down tight enough,” She had scolded him, and given him exercises to do, so he had never mentioned it again.

The gathering was mostly black robes that denoted journeymen, a smaller number of white that indicated masters, and only three gray robes that were the highest level of mage. The basement was very large, the floor white marble with pillars at even intervals, marching around a dias that was raised at the center of the room. On the dias was a chair, and in the chair was a girl. Her wrists and ankles were in cuffs, and the cuffs were chained to large metal rings secured to the marble floor with huge bolts.

Johnny milled around the room, following the headmaster, and looked at the girl curiously as he circled. She looked a little younger than he was, with uncombed blond hair and large black-framed glasses. She was skinny and wore simple blue clothing that looked like a hospital scrub. She didn’t look dangerous enough to need to be chained down, she looked like the kind of girl you would see anywhere, at school, in a coffeshop, nondescript and mousey. The kind of girl that stared at Johnny but only talked to him when she was really, really drunk.

Just from overhearing the talk of his elders, Johnny knew that the girl was a witch and she was going to be tried tonight.

The mages began to climb up to the dias to take their seats on the raised edge that held three large chairs. Now the girl was facing the gray robed mages, and she raised her head to look at the two old women and one old man.

“Kylie Warden, you are accused of witchcraft. You used your magical abilities to harm and suborn the will of human beings for your own profit.” The mage’s voice quavered as she spoke to the girl on the chair. “You sold love potions and directly caused three human deaths.”

“Its not my fault.” The girl’s voice was thin and quavering, full of fear. “I didn’t know it was wrong. I didn’t know what would happen.”

“Witchcraft is the essence of selfishness. It is done for power and profit and always leads to harm.” The male mage was stern. “We can show no mercy to the likes of you.”

“I’m sorry! Can’t you – teach me?” The girl tried to put her hands together in supplication, but the chains prevented it. “Let me be an apprentice! I’ll do anything you say!”

The last mage, so infirm she'd had to be helped onto her chair, gazed with piercing eyes on the girl. “Why didn’t you come to us before if you wanted to learn.”

“I didn’t know about you.” Tears started to run down the girls face.

Johnny felt cold. Even he knew that was a lie.

“When you started to frequent the old book stores, and buy the items you needed for your spellcraft, you heard of us. When you started to practice and learned ways to hide your doings, you hid them from us. When your spells wrought evil and you ran away, you ran from us. I regret your choices, Kylie Warden.” The old woman’s face was cold. “You must die.”

Then the girl screamed, but it wasn’t from fear, it was from fury. Out of her open hands, two balls of fire shot down the chains and started to melt the circles of iron.

“Her imps.” The headmaster muttered to the students gathered around him.

The male mage opened his two hands, and the balls of fire were pulled toward them as if it was a tug of war, back and forth between the witch and mage. The witch was screaming and swearing as the two fireballs came to hover over each of the old mages hands. He clenched fists and the balls fizzled out to smoke.

She slumped over in the chair, still chained.

Johnny watched wide eyed as they read the sentence, but couldn’t watch as the executioner came forward in his black hood with a scythe in his hand. The sound was like a thunk more than anything, like cutting meat, followed by a bubbling, choking scream and the clink of chains. When Johnny opened his eyes again, all he could see of the witch was reddened blond hair and a body sprawled ungracefully across the pure white marble. There was no pool of blood, though the smell of it was thick and metallic in the air. It was sliding into a carved groove around the dias, circling in a thin line of red.

The students had then been taken stumbling away, in shock, and given a lecture about how magic corrupted in the absence of a Sorciere to nurture and direct study.

It was the first and only time Johnny had seen somebody killed.

The next day, the headmaster had handed Johnny a small vial made of black glass, as if he were bestowing a great honor. “Here. I wanted you to have this, Johnny. Its not easy to get real witch’s blood, especially one that was killed on a full moon. You’ll find that it will be very handy for the higher order magics.”

Johnny had taken the vial in his hand, and looked at the face of his headmaster like he’d never seen him before in his life. He felt like there were fire ants burning in his viens, crawling through his body with every beat of his heart. He felt his innocence breaking into pieces at that moment.

They said she had to die. Was it even true? Could they have taught her? Or did they need the blood of a witch – killed under the full moon – for certain higher order magics.

“How nice.” Johnny choked out. “Everyone at the killing went home with a souvenir.”

The headmaster was angry. “You’ll understand when you’re older. Now go to class.”

That little vial was still among Johnny’s things from school, left unopened up in his room in the big house by the lake. It was part of the reason he had decided to leave. His mother, she was part of that. His friends parents. His older friends too, except Taeil, who had decided to leave but had been close-mouthed and secretive about why. After that killing, Johnny knew why.

Johnny had to shake himself out of the memory as Ten gripped his sleeve, pulling playfully. Everybody was standing as they played the national anthem, and Johnny allowed Ten to tug him to his feet. He hadn’t even noticed Jae coming back up to sit by his other side. “You day dreaming?” Ten leaned closer to talk over the loud music, long catlike eyes curious as he looked up at Johnny.

Ten’s gaze kindled a light and happy feeling inside Johnny, chasing away the darkness of his memories. “Just thinking too hard. I’m done now.”

“Good. We have to cheer together.” Ten shook his sign, smiling warmly.

Wayne State gave up the serve after losing the coin toss. Elizabeth was in the front row, clapping her hands to encourage her team mates. As the other side got ready to serve, she dropped to a crouch, waiting to receive. Johnny had played beach volleyball before so he understood the game, and Jae seemed to know the rules too, but Ten was completely ignorant.

“Why are they hitting the balls so many times? Why don’t they just knock it over?” Ten was watching the game with intent concentration.

“They hit the ball three times to set it up for a kill. See, the first girl gets the serve and passes to the setter. The setter does a nice high set to the hitter, and it’s the hitter’s job to slam it down on the other side so they can’t return it.”

“Okay.” Ten nodded rapidly. They all watched when the opponent tried to hit the ball into the block Elizabeth and the middle hitter put up; the ball slammed down hard on the other side, and the crowd cheered. “Me!” Ten shouted, waving his sign with the eleven on it until he was passed a leather bota bag. He popped the top off.

“Don’t drink too much of it,” Johnny warned.

“Don’t worry. I’ve had alcohol before,” Ten assured him airily, taking a swig.

“You just got a load of germs in your orifice.” Johnny couldn’t help but laugh.

Ten coughed, face flushing pink as he wiped his lips with a delicate wrist. “Ugh. You’re no fun, Johnny.”

“But I’m having fun.” Johnny was enjoying the view, and returned Ten’s sunny smile.

Number 7 was up to serve, and she got an ace on the second try. Johnny gamely waved his sign until the bag made it over to him. He surreptitiously squirted the liquid into his mouth. It tasted like a lot of vodka with a very small amount of fruit juice; probably not too many germs could live in there. He tried to hand it to Jae, who just showed his dimples, shaking his head.

“I’m good. Look how Beth’s calves look when she jumps. They are going to receive again now- hehe. Wow. Volleyball shorts are amazing.”

Johnny ignored Jae’s low voiced commentary. Elizabeth put up another block, but the ball went out.

“Yah! Elizababy,” Ten hollered, jumping up and waving his sign. Jae was chortling. Johnny was finding it hard not to laugh.

Elizabeth glanced over at them, hearing Ten shouting from the stands. She was laughing and shaking her head as she got back into position.

“Ten! C’mon, sit.” Johnny grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the seat. The palm of his hand and fingers tingled after the short contact with Ten’s heated skin; he felt too warm, like he had a fever. “She didn’t get the point on that block, it went out.”

“Ohhh.” Ten grinned and shrugged. “I don’t care, it was cool. Go team! Rah rah!”

It was fun to watch the game with the Asian American Club. They were reasonably loud without being obnoxious (except for Ten) and the small shots of vodka kept everyone motivated but wasn’t enough to get anybody drunk. Their team played well and won three straight sets, ending the game early. Since it was an invitational, another two teams came out immediately to get warmed up and the club began to disperse.

“So – I heard you say Elizabeth brought you?” Jae remarked casually to Ten. “How are you getting home?”

“I’m not sure, I think I’m supposed to meet her by the locker room.”

“We’ll walk there with you.”

“Thanks, Jae!” Ten was happy, but Johnny gave his friend a sour look. He was less than thrilled with the idea of Ten and Jae hanging out together. The less time they spent in each other’s company, the less likely Jae would smell anything unusual.

They followed a girl in a volleyball uniform to find the locker room. Luckily, Beth was in the hallway, talking to a few of her teammates; she broke off the conversation as the three approached. Her face was flushed and little drops of sweat sparkled on her nose and her cheeks. “Hey guys. I think you brought me luck today, thank you. It was a big surprise to see everyone.” She chuckled warmly. “I think I could hear you through the whole game, Ten – you’re gonna lose your voice.”

“No, I don’t think so.” Ten grinned, tapping his fingers on his pale neck. “My voice is strong.”

“You really played well.” Jae smiled at her. “You’re really quick. And you jump really high.”

“Thank you.” Her green eyes lit at his words. “I’ve been working hard on my jump since the old season ended. This invitational doesn’t count, its just an exhibition, but it feels good when everything comes together.” He’d figured out a compliment that actually meant something to Beth. She was looking at Jae as if she was seeing him for the first time because of it – or maybe it was the way his muscles rippled nicely when he crossed his arms.

“Are we gonna go now? I don’t want to watch it if it isn’t you.” Ten tilted his head as he looked up at Beth.

She grimaced. “Ugh, I’m sorry but we don’t play again for a good while and I’m not supposed to leave. Could one of you guys drop Ten off for me?”

“Sure, but is this all we’re going to see of you?” Jae managed to look hot while making sad puppy eyes. “I don’t know about these guys, but you’re one of my favorite people to hang out with.”

“You’re my number one!” Ten enthused, obviously clueless about what Jae was up to.

“Ah.” Elizabeth looked a little embarrassed. “Well, if you guys want to see me- I’m bartending tonight at HQ. You could come. But I don’t know if that place would be your scene? Its – kind of – a drug bar.”

“A drug bar?” Johnny wondered aloud.

Ten’s eyes widened, but he was laughing. “Oh, Lizzybaby. You’re so bad.”

She pretended to smack at his head, making him duck and run behind Johnny. “Brat, I just serve drinks. Come if the moral turpitude is not too much for you. For right now, I’m gonna go. See you.” Throwing up a peace sign, she turned around and went in the locker room.

Jae had the balls to wink at Johnny. “She loves me.”

“Ha. We’ll see about that. I don’t think inviting you to the bar where she works is equivalent to a love confession.” Johnny scoffed.

“Elizabeth loves everybody,” Ten said seriously, looking from one to the other of them. “That’s why she’s so enjoyable.”

“Ha. You’re a funny kid. Where are you from again?” Jae was looking curiously at Ten.

“I’m from the Riverfront Apartments, and you told Beth you would take me,” Ten told him firmly.

“What that means is that I’m taking you since he hasn’t got a car,” Johnny raised an eyebrow at Jae, just to let him know what he thought about Jae promising his services. The shifter had the grace to look a little sheepish. “Its ok though. My friend lives in that complex and I was going to visit him this afternoon anyhow,” Johnny lied easily. He would ditch Jae first – and when he was alone with Ten, it would be time to get some real answers.

“Great!” Ten beamed, too radiantly pretty for a mundane hallway in a college building . “Give me a minute, I have to piss. I drank all this water.” He showed the empty sports bottle in his hand. “Where’s the bathroom?”

They walked around until they found it. While waiting for Ten, Jae leaned against the wall in the hallway and gave Johnny an evaluating gaze. “That guy. Ten.”

“Yeah?” Johnny asked blandly.

“He’s cute, hunh?” Jae’s eyes were knowing. “Pretty.”

“I didn’t know you were into boys.” Johnny raised his eyebrows.

Jae chuckled. “I think we’re talking about you? Because you’ve been staring at him since we got here.”

Johnny felt a surge of annoyance. Yeah, he probably was staring, but not just for the reason Jae thought. “So what. I appreciate beauty in whatever form it takes. If you don’t like it that’s your problem.”

Jae snorted. “Its not like _that_ , I’m not judging. I can see that he’s really nice to look at but there’s something really odd about that guy.” Jae looked at Johnny with a flicker of concern.

“Yeah, he’s odd, but who isn’t.” Johnny was dismissive. “I’m going to a barbeque with a bunch of weird people tomorrow.”

Jae wouldn’t change the subject. “When I shook his hand, it was really hot. And his skin was so – soft. Like a baby’s skin.” Jae shuddered involuntarily. “It kind of gave me the creeps.”

“So anyway, I was thinking that we should go. To – the bar. Beth? Tonight?”

Jae’s smile bloomed, and Johnny knew that he’d got the shifter’s mind off Ten. “You gonna drive me?”

“I’d love to.”

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

After dropping Jae at his house, Johnny took Ten home.

Ten lived in different tower than Taeil, on the 20th floor of the same Riverfront complex. Johnny had tried to think of a clever way to get an invite to Ten’s place, but he didn’t need to do anything. Ten had told him, smiling like a heat wave, “I don’t want you to go yet. Come up and see where I live.”

They encountered the same homeless woman Johnny had seen the last time he’d come here, crouched beside her shopping cart full of who knew what. Her eyes rolled as her voice hissed at them, “Poor kid. She died. It was MURDER. Isn’t that sad?” Her head turned with ragged jerks, her gaze following as they walked past. “Poor kid. She died. It was MURDER. Isn’t that sad? Poor kid. She died. It was MURDER. Isn’t…?” The sound of the woman’s voice faded as they entered the lobby.

“There is something wrong with her brain.” Ten told Johnny with perky interest as they walked into the waiting elevator. “She sees things that ain’t there.”

“How do you know?”

“I talk to her sometimes. When I get bored.” The elevator doors opened. “This way,” Ten said proudly, heading to the right from the alcove. “I can’t tell you how many times I went the wrong way, but I have it down now.”

Ten unlocked the door and bowed Johnny inside.

Johnny didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t what he saw. The place was clean, starkly so, except there were many plants in various stages of dying in front of the long window. The largest was some kind of banana tree in a huge pot with long glossy leaves, and the smallest were cacti in one inch clay pots. There was a long black leather couch, a big tv against the wall in front of it, and one blue chair that was round and large enough for three. What caught johnny’s attention was the art on the walls. Around the television were framed black and white photographs, just portraits of faces, from babies to old people. The wall behind the couch had a few framed paintings, all replicas of Degas paintings. Johnny recognized one with the ballet dancers, and the absinthe drinkers; his mother had loved Degas. More interesting were the unframed canvases hanging between the ornate framed paintings. One was a beautiful rendering of a hand, elegant fingers relaxed, turning on a delicate wrist; it looked more than familiar, and Johnny would have sworn the hand was Ten’s.

“Do you want something to eat?” Ten asked, brushing past Johnny to go into the kitchen. He opened the fridge, and Johnny looked over his shoulder to see an assortment of cakes, tarts and pies shoved into every corner. “do you like cake?”

“No. I don’t really like sweets,” Johnny admitted. “do you have something else?”

Ten gave his guest a startled look. “Like what?”

“An apple? Soup? Frozen chicken nuggets?” Johnny’s eyebrows ascended into his hairline. “Don’t tell me all you eat is this junk?”

“I eat other things. But I like these.” Ten smiled cheekily. “I think I have an apple though. Here.” Ten plucked a green one out of a wicker fruit bowl on the counter, and placed it in Johnny’s hand. “You can have that, I’m gonna have cake.”

“Okay, suit yourself.” While Ten busied himself at that task, Johnny wandered back out into the living room. The paintings pulled at his eyes again and he looked more closely at the hand, then at another unframed canvas. It was wildly colored, something hinting at a sunrise but the reds and yellows splashed in hectic abandon so it made Johnny almost dizzy to look at it too much. The next one…

He stopped still, staring at it. The background was dark, only hinting at furniture or a room, but the figure was what made him draw his breath. It was a vaguely human shape, and a pure and lucent blue. Johnny knew that color blue, those little swirls, those tiny bursts like sunspots. He stared, absorbing, and his eyes lit on a tiny beautiful script in white in the dark corner. It said simply “happiness”.

He reached out to touch the painting, almost unable to stop himself, then found his hand held still in warm fingers. He looked down into Ten’s black eyes. “Don’t touch, Johnny. Its one of my favorites.”

It was quiet between them for a moment, then Johnny smelled the faint scent of oil paint and he knew. “You painted this.”

“Yes, I did.” Ten released Johnny’s hand, his lips curving a little as he gazed at his work. “So many can capture what a human looks like from the outside, but I can paint what’s real. Does it look familiar to you?” Ten’s thin fingers skimmed the blue figure, not touching.

“Well, it’s the painting of an aura,” Johnny answered slowly, watching Ten for a reaction.

Ten glanced up at Johnny, feigning disappointment, mischief in his feline eyes. “Is that all you see?”

“You named it what it looks like.” Johnny had to smile at Ten’s acting. “Its happiness.”

“It’s a painting of _you_ , Johnny Seo. Its how you looked when I came over to talk to you for the first time.” Ten blew out a breath like Johnny was hopeless.

Johnny’s eyes widened, but he had too much self possession to blurt a bunch of nonsense. He gazed at the painting, absorbing the knowledge that it offered, then gazed back at the painter. Ten was looking at him expectantly, body limned with the golden glow of himself, with a smile that was the most seductive thing Johnny had ever seen. Johnny was still, caught between stepping forward and retreating back as the words of a poem caught and tangled in his mind

_All changed utterly… A terrible beauty is born_

A loud and cranky meow broke the silent tableau. With a charming laugh, Ten hurried to scoop up the cat that was pacing across the living room floor. “Ah, my little kitty! You’ve decided to forgive me. I will give you lots of delicious pumpkin pie, you wait and see.” He set her back down and looked expectantly at Johnny. “Come sit over here, and eat your apple with me.” He slid onto one of the barstools at the counter that separated the kitchen and the living room.

Johnny played with the apple, watching Ten carefully cut a small piece of the lemon cake. Things had been silent between them for a moment. It was partially due to the cat sitting on the counter, staring unblinking at Johnny and sheathing and unsheathing her claws.

“Your painting,” Johnny started abruptly. “Its beautiful. I’ve never seen a painting of an aura like that before. I’ve never seen what my aura looks like.”

A delighted smile graced Ten’s lips. “Yours is the best, Johnny. It’s the prettiest and the brightest, even though you keep it pressed back most of the time. I never get tired of looking at it.”

“Do you see that way, all the time?” Johnny was stunned at the thought Ten might be going around with his Sight unfurled, on the daily. No wonder he glowed like that. Hope caught fire inside Johnny, getting even stronger than before. A warlock would know better than to do that – anyone who knew the most basic facts about magic knew that was dangerous. “Seeing auras, and other things like you do – most people can’t, you know.”

“I know.” Ten’s mouth quirked now, and his dark eyes had a rougish glint. “I figured that out pretty fast.”

Johnny’s mouth felt dry. He wet his lips with his tongue. “Do you know that its magic?”

Ten shrugged his shoulders. “You call it magic. Its just energy, that’s all. Its everywhere, its in everyone, just more in some people than others.”

“You can’t expect me to believe that you’re that simple.” Johnny narrowed his eyes as he glared at Ten.

The other boy tried to suppress a laugh, eyes twinkling with humor. “Then ask me. What do you want to know?”

“Are you a warlock?” Johnny growled.

Ten’s laughter bubbled to the surface in chortles and giggles. He put a hand over his mouth. “Oh my gosh no. NO! Can you imagine it, me bent over some cauldron, putting in bits of this and that? Owls eyes and vampires teeth? Ghosts breath and demon scales?” Even the cat seemed to laugh, opening and shutting her green eyes. Ten caught at the counter, almost falling off his chair, still shaking with laughter. “I’ll admit, some of my brothers and sisters have tried it. They've played with magic from time to time, but I've never. Gosh.” He wiped his tearing eyes.

“Then why do you have that cat following you around?” Johnny was a little annoyed at being laughed at. He slid off the stool, towering over Ten and pointing at the cat. “She’s a familiar spirit! Familiars are a source of power to a warlock, connecting him to the spirit world. And they aren’t for beginners, either.”

“Pfft.” Ten rolled his eyes. “You think she’s mine? My father sent her. It was part of his requirements for letting me leave home.”

The cat meowed, agreeing.

“Seriously.” Johnny didn’t know what to think. “Are you telling me your father is a warlock?”

Ten’s smile was faint and secretive. “My family is very powerful. I wouldn’t call my father a warlock if I was you.” He put a bite of lemon cake in his mouth.

Johnny unfurled his sight slowly, like a soft exhale into the air. He would be able to tell by Ten’s aura if he was lying. His Sight was sensitive enough to note the darkness that would swirl beneath. “So you are from a powerful family. Your father is strong enough to send you out with his familiar spirit to watch over you. But he never bothered to teach you any magic? That’s hard to believe.”

Ten sighed. “What do you want me to say about it? Yes, I’m like this. It runs in my family. No, I don’t care about it much at all. I never have and it’s never been a problem for me.”

“But you have to care about it.” Johnny tried to explain, getting increasingly frustrated. Johnny’s eyes slid over the cats green orbs, and he saw the smoky gray aura that surrounded her swirl as if in agreement. Ten’s bright glow hid nothing; he wasn’t lying. “It’s dangerous to be like you are. You’re not in your father’s house anymore, with a powerful family to protect you.”

“Well I know that. I wanted to learn about the world. That’s why I’m here.” Ten spread his arms, embracing his surroundings.

“You’ve got your sight out all the time, and someone could use it to ensnare you. You glow like a fucking beacon, you have enough power to be interesting to a real witch or warlock. If they can use you to fuel their spells, so much better for them. They won’t care if they drain you dead. Everyone else that’s not a warlock will think you are one and chase you out or kill you for it. Shifters can smell magic, and wizards can sure as hell see it!”

Ten blinked, drawing back defensively. “I don’t understand why you’re yelling at me.”

“Because I don’t want any of that to happen to you!” Johnny was aggravated. “Why do you think?”

“…oh.” Ten smiled, and it was like the sun coming out. “Thanks Johnny. I don’t want any of that to happen to me either.”

Johnny groaned. “Let me teach you to protect yourself a little better. You should at least know how to furl your sight and damp down your aura.”

“But I’m already damping my aura.” Ten protested.

“You’re doing a shitty job of it.”

“Gosh. Mean.” Ten made a face. “Don’t you think I’m trying? I know how I look. It won’t go down any more than this, I swear.”

“Ten, let me teach you, ok? Just a few little things. Just enough to keep you safe.” _This is ridiculous._ Johnny thought to himself. He had never thought to find himself in such a position, begging some ignorant and beautiful fool to help save his damn ass.

In the end, Ten had not agreed, just confirmed that he would think about it. Johnny left the building feeling pissed as hell. He _still_ felt like he was missing some crucial fact about Ten, though he knew Ten hadn’t lied.

“Poor kid. She died. It was MURDER. Isn’t that sad?”

Johnny stopped, and turned around to give the apple in his hand to the old homeless lady. Her hand jerked as she grasped it. “Isn’t that sad?” She asked again, eyes rolling in a way that made a shiver go down his spine.

“Yeah. Its sad.”

Johnny walked to his car, not even seeing the purples and the oranges of sunset slashed across the sky. One thing he knew for sure was that he really needed a drink, and he was looking forward to hitting the damn drug bar, whatever the hell that turned out to be.


	7. Chapter 7

He strolled in the door of HQ at 10pm, just a short time after sunset. He loved the reds and purples slashed across the sky, a violent delight to his eyes as he opened them from a long day’s slumber. Yearningly he’d gazed outside his opened window as he dressed, all in black as was his usual wont. He would have liked to sit outside and watched the colors fade and the stars come out, but the club wouldn’t manage itself. Besides, he was deeply hungry tonight, and it wouldn’t be ignored. He felt empty, a little angry burn everywhere under his skin, reminding him that he was parched, that he needed to be watered and watered so he could bloom.

He nodded to the large man sitting at the door as he walked in, and the man replied respectfully, “Hi Boss.”

Music was playing, the delirious kind of reel that hypnotized the people, with fuzzy starts and stops and deep bass throbs. The vibrations tickled at his skin, making the hunger back off a little. Music soothed the beast. Lights swirled or lit in time with the reel, following the rhythm in a hypnotic cascade of color, saturating the retinas with the darkness as its backdrop. His eyes traveled, and saw the braziers in the corners were lit and smoking. The subtle and narcotic scent of poppy swirled just at the edge of his senses, just as it was supposed to. He was pleased.

A few boys and girls were gathered at two tables, kids from the suburbs in branded clothes, smoking cigarettes as they were nervously trying to go bad. There were some regulars at the bar. One of them was _his_ , and he smiled when he saw her leaned over her drink, talking to the barback as he unloaded a crate full of glasses.

The door from the back offices opened, and Sicheng emerged wearing white. White jeans, white button up shirt with buttoned cuffs, white Gucci belt with yellow diamonds. His dark eyes lit and he sauntered up, drawing gazes as easily as a flame in the darkness.

“Taeyong.”

“Sicheng.”

They regarded each other, reflections through a dark mirror; Taeyong with silvery white hair, dressed in black, and black haired Sicheng in white. They wore twin necklaces too, silver chains with long, narrow sliver pendants, etched with delicate tracery like veins. Every eye in the bar was on them. Humans couldn’t help it, of course. It was their beauty that lured in the prey. Sicheng slid his gaze from left to right, and curved his full lips in his soft predator’s smile. “I put the kegs in the basement already. There are some pretty ones tonight, brother. And I’m so hungry.” A delightful shiver of anticipation ran over Sicheng’s skin. “Two of _mine_ are here tonight as well.”

“Not before midnight,” Taeyong admonished, his gaze holding Sicheng’s. “You know you promised.”

Sicheng came closer, pressing his forehead to Taeyong’s. His dark eyelashes were impossibly long, his wide glinting eyes playfully seductive. “Yuta won’t be here tonight. Why can’t we do what we want? I know you’re hungry too.” Sicheng flashed his teeth, just enough to show his pointed canines. “I will share _mine_ , if you will let me take them just a little early, brother.”

Taeyong enjoyed the cool skin pressed to his forehead, and he let Sicheng play with his fingers for a moment before answering, “No. You’ll wait till midnight, just like always.”

Pouting like a child, Sicheng twirled and stomped toward the table where his two men were sitting. Taeyong watched him with a fond smile. Sicheng was still young, as far as their lifetimes were measured.

Taeyong continued toward the bar, aware of the door opening and welcoming more lambs to his fold. He looked them over appraisingly as they entered. These were city people, ones that had gone bad a while ago, every one of them with a weapon secreted somewhere. He liked these just as much, spicy to the sweet of the suburban children. They had to be watched a little more carefully, though.

The song transitioned, and a new one began playing. Taeyong lifted the hinged piece of wood and went behind the bar.

“Hi, Mr. T.” Mark grinned as he passed Taeyong. He was taking the empty crates back to the kitchen, his smile infectious and his eyes happy under his wings of brows. Whatever work he did, Mark was always cheerful.

“Hello, Mark,” Taeyong returned the greeting. “Beth.”

The bartender was the same height as Taeyong. Her brown hair was up in a high ponytail, leaving the glowing tan skin of her neck bare. She seemed fascinated with the shot glass she was cleaning with a white rag. “Hi Boss. How’s tricks.”

Taeyong huffed a breath. He still didn’t understand many of the aphorisms people used, especially because English was not his native tongue. He just decided to ignore the question of tricks. “Why is a tape playing tonight? Where is Ryan?”

She met his eyes, her green ones worried. “I don’t know. I tried to call him a couple times already tonight, but he isn’t picking up.” She looked uncomfortable. “I know he’s my brother, but I don’t always know what he’s up to.”

“I see.” Taeyong pressed his lips together, annoyed. “This is the third time he’s been late in a month.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.” She grimaced.

Taeyong stopped himself from saying anything more. He knew that Elizabeth and her warm friendliness kept people coming back to the bar; he didn’t want to upset her. “Its ok. Just leave him a message to call me.”

“You got it, boss man. Do you want your usual?”

“Please.”

Expertly, she poured him a neat brandy before she needed to go to the next person at the bar.

He took one sip before he saw Holly enter the bar, wearing a tiny pink dress that fit her like her own skin. She was always a late riser, coming in much later than Sicheng and Taeyong. She sidled up to the bar, her olive toned skin glowing, her smile impossibly pretty as she blinked dark eyes at Taeyong. Her silver pendant hung on her chest, looking heavy on her delicate figure. “Hello, my sweet brother.”

“Good evening, dear sister.” Taeyong loved Holly’s smile. It never failed to pierce his heart like a knife. He reached out and caressed her soft cheek, making her laugh and pull his hand away with her tiny cold fingers.

“My beautiful Taeyong. Give us a brandy, won’t you?”

“Of course.” They sipped their brandies and talked about the weather as they checked out the catch for the night. It was still early, a warm night in June. There would be many more before the night was done, and some would be pretty enough to kiss.

There was another one of _his._ This one was a beauty with his caramel skin and grey eyes. The man blushed, looking away then looking back when he caught Taeyong’s gaze.

Holly made a sad face as she sipped the liquor. “The place is full of yours and Sicheng’s pets tonight. Nobody wants to be my pet.” She pretended to pout.

Taeyong scoffed, and leaned across the bar to speak into her ear, past the silky dark hair. “You know why, Holly. I like my feasts flavored with arousal, and Sicheng likes his with a little cocaine. You like yours with pain.”

Holly giggled, her eyes widening as if he’d said something naughty. “You should try it again, Tae. It adds an exquisite flavor. Now that you’re older, you may like it.”

“No.” The man grimaced in distaste.

“Oh, so straightlaced,” She teased, picking up her glass as she lifted herself off the barstool. “That damn dj better get here or I’ll scoop out his entrails. These sheep need to sweat on that dancefloor so they will be drunk as shit by midnight.” Dainty on her high heels, Holly took the drink with her, pretending to trip so she fell against the side of a mean looking man in a motorcycle jacket. She smiled up at him, and he smiled back foolishly, with no idea what that pretty girl would have in store for him by the end of the night.

Shaking his head over Holly’s game, Taeyong gazed out over the bar that was becoming more crowded. The air was thickening with the cigarette smoke and the essence of poppy, sweet and untraceable, just enough to dull the senses. People were lining up at the bar, and the servers were getting busier at the tables. The ticket man was also getting some business, with giggling suburban kids coming away from his booth with a handful of tickets.

The tickets had been Sicheng’s idea of course. People could buy tickets and then exchange them for small amounts of cocaine. They were careful not to give anyone enough to kill them, since that was the kind of trouble they tried to stay away from, but the money was easy and useful for bribing the police. Yuta was indulgent of Sicheng, since he was the newest and could be very cute when he tried.

“Hello, Taeyong.” His pet slid into the stool across from him, eyes worshipful as she looked up at him. She was the one who had been there when he arrived; truly an obedient pet.

“CarrieAnn.” Taeyong took her hand and pressed his cold, perfect lips to the warm moist flesh of her fingers. He could smell the blood behind the thin layer of skin. It made his mouth tingle madly; it took self-control for him to raise his head and release that hand. “You look beautiful tonight.”

She had silky brown hair and blue eyes that were too big for her face. “I came like you told me to. This is my night.”

“Yes, darling. This is your night.” His voice was husky, tantalizing. He saw her pupils dialate as she gazed at him, widening circles of black eating into the blue. “I will take you back to my room at midnight. Go ahead and drink a little, but don’t get drunk. That ruins the fun.”

“All right.” She fervently agreed. She would have agreed to just about anything, but Taeyong wouldn’t ask her to do any more than that. Taeyong didn’t like to hurt or humiliate his pets, unlike Holly. He saw them as sweet and lovely, and he kept them safe in his fold like a good shepherd should. He smiled and traced a delicate finger over her jawline, letting his hand caress her neck and that pumping artery visible against her pale skin. She shuddered and leaned into his touch, her eyes entranced like she had inhaled a little too much poppy. He enjoyed the warmth of her skin, the resilience of it, the velvety softness.

“I’ll be with you at midnight, darling. Now run along.” He smiled at her, taking the hand away even as she leaned toward him to keep it on her.

“All – allright.” Reluctant but still obedient, she got back up and moved away, eyes on him.

Taeyong moved out of the bar area again, looking back to see Beth and the other bartender working swiftly to serve the customers. The bouncer was checking Id’s and patting people down for weapons. The servers were dancing through the tables, drinks balanced carefully on platters. The place was getting crowded. The only problem was the empty dance floor.

That problem was solved when a tall curly-haired young man rushed through the door, computer tucked under his arm, and ran up onto the stage. He opened up the computer and started hooking up all the dj equipment. “Boo,” some people shouted, and others yelled, “RYYYYYY.” There was an electric wave that went through the crowd as people craned their heads, realizing that something was happening.

Taeyong stood back, still and inscrutable in his black while colors played over his silver hair and lit it blue, red, pink. He was going to need to have a word with Ryan Aguila. At this moment, he really regretted agreeing to all of Yuta’s rules. If the staff wasn’t off-limits, Taeyong could easily entrance the young dj enough to get his ass to work on time. He was an hour late.

It didn’t matter to the crowd though. They came to see Ryan because he had music before anybody else, he put it up so they could dance to it, and mixed new stuff in with the tracks that they loved so they could dance for two hours straight. Well, now it would be one hour. The main dj went on at midnight.

It only took Ryan 10 minutes to fill the dance floor. Holly was happy, dancing with another girl with graceful abandon. Sicheng was happy, taking tickets and exchanging them for little baggies filled with white. Taeyong watched from the sidelines, feeling fairly happy too. What was there to be displeased about? It was so much easier now that he was with his family and they were here in Detroit. Instead of hunting, they let the prey come to them. It was perfect.

He glanced up as the door opened again and two men entered. Curiously, he perused their faces as they showed id to the bouncer. He probably did see Koreans every night in Detroit, but he still looked at them curiously when he encountered them. He still wondered if they had known him, or knew somebody that had known him, but with time passing that was probably impossible now. The first Korean was tall, with piercing eyes and dark slashes for brows, softened by a heart-shaped face and full lips. The other was a little shorter than his friend, handsome, with a strong jaw and deep-set eyes. The taller one said something, and the shorter suddenly smiled.

Taeyong shook from head to toe. He clamped the railing in front of him as a pain pierced his skull. He gasped at the feeling, now illusive but he was too shaken by the sudden realization to let the pain distract him. _I know him. I know his face._

Taeyong had been a human once, just like every other vampire. And like most of them, he could not remember his prior life. Some, like Yuta, had managed to rediscover who they were and stay a part of their human family’s life. Yuta was a distant ‘uncle’ who killed himself off every thirty years or so, to replace himself as his own son in another 10. He’d been doing it for three hundred years. Sicheng, Holly, and Taeyong – none of them remembered anything, except Yuta being there somehow at the moment of their death, shining like an angel, reaching out a healing hand and changing everything.

Taeyong could remember snow. It had been soft under him and thick, catching him like a blanket of down as he had fallen. He remembered how it had sparkled, like little cold diamonds in the blue moonlight. His breath had frozen in the cold, when he breathed in the air had dried his nose and made him cough. His blood had been hot, running through his clutching fingers, red and spurting strongly from his abdomen. The pain wasn’t as bad as he would have thought, but the bleeding wouldn’t stop. His heart was beating so fast now. He was so dizzy.

Yuta had been wearing a black coat as he bent over him, kneeling in the snow, in the dark. His eyes were soft and his expression compassionate. His hands covered Taeyong’s bloody ones, his fingers chilling cold.

“Do you want to live?” Yuta had asked, but Taeyong was too weak to draw the breath to answer. His eyes had talked for him. He had never seen the sun again, and he had never been able to remember anything at all about his past except that moment.

“Its better that way,” Yuta had told him when he’d asked. “You don’t have to worry about regrets. Just get on with your new life.”

He had been so in awe of Yuta then, and so in love with him, that it had seemed like the best thing to do. He gave himself fully to his new life and to Yuta and Holly, moving with them around the world, following Yuta’s whims. Sicheng had come later and made them complete. He had always wondered who he had been, but it had not been worth leaving his real family to find out.

He watched the two men walk toward the bar, and slide into two stools just vacated. Elizabeth greeted them like they were old friends. He watched her put the red wrist bands on them. Red wrist bands were for friends of staff; they didn’t take friends of staff into the back rooms.

Excitement battled with the burn of hunger in Taeyong’s body as he contemplated the man sitting at the bar. Would the man know him, if he showed his face? Were they friends? Were they enemies? Was this one the man who had stabbed him and taken his life? It couldn’t have been. That was twenty years ago, and the man he’d seen couldn’t be more than twenty.

The thought made Taeyong pause. He couldn’t know him then. It was impossible. But he had been so sure…

Walking slowly, Taeyong crossed the room until he felt someone’s skin graze his hand. He looked down to see his second pet, reaching out to him from the chair where he sat. “Taeyong?”

The silver haired man stopped. He couldn’t neglect his pets. He bent over and pressed his lips to his man’s cheek. “I’ll come for you at 1 am.”

“Allright.” The man whispered. The sound was lost in the music, but Taeyong heard it falling into his ears, sweetly. He smiled and watched as the sheep around him gravitated toward him, drawn by his entrancing beauty. A little liquor, a little poppy, that’s all it took… but the special ones kept coming back.

He moved to the bar, saw CarrieAnn still waiting there, a few seats down from the two Korean men. Taeyong slid in behind the bar, and went to serve himself another brandy. With his back turned, he listened to the conversation the two men were having with the bartender.

“Geez Elizabeth, what’s with that getup? Are we at the renaissance faire or something?” the taller guy was saying in amazement.

“What’s the matter, Johnny?” the voice was playful, velvety, _familiar._ Taeyong tried not to shiver. “I like that thing she’s wearing.”

“It’s called a bustier, my friends. And its sad but true, tips go up for titties out.” Beth was amused.

“I’m a fan. Lets toast to that.” That voice again, tugging at the blank space of memory. Taeyong frowned at the wall.

“Yes, lets! Toast to titties out!” Johnny was laughing.

“I don’t know if you’re a fan of titties, or of drinking,” The voice complained.

“Can’t I like both?”

“You guys are too much.”

“You started it, Elizababy.” The velvety voice, laughing again.

“Jae! Only Ten gets to call me Elizababy!”

Jae, Taeyong thought to himself. He listened to their foolish conversation for a while more, hoping to find something out that could trip his memory, but there was nothing. They were all students at the university, they joked and flirted.

Maybe he was wrong? Taeyong turned around slowly, and gazed straight into Jae’s face. Recognition rocked him back again. He _remembered_ this man. How?

Cautiously, he took a few steps forward to approach the group. “Having a good night, everyone?” He asked pleasantly, glancing from Elizabeth to the two men. Johnny looked at him with narrow-eyed suspicion but nodded. Jae gave him a quick word of affirmation before returning his eyes to Elizabeth.

Taeyong was both surprised and piqued. Jae didn’t know him, and Jae hardly looked at him. That wasn’t what he was used to. And the more he looked at Jae, the more hungry he felt.

The chimes rang. Twelve chimes.

Taeyong’s eyes slid down the bar to meet CarrieAnn’s. Jae could wait. There was time to plumb that mystery; there were more pressing needs. He came around the bar, and took her hand gently to lead her into the back. He was following Holly, who was leading a suburban girl by the hand, both of them giggling. Sicheng was the last one in with his two pets, taking the first door to his room. Taeyong’s room was the second door, and he opened it and brought CarrieAnn inside.

Soft pink lights kindled. The girls’s eyes were huge, her breathing rapid as he brought her in close, kissed her lips, caressed her with his tongue. The chemicals on his tongue passed into her bloodstream, straight to her brain. His kiss was soporific, a hypnotic, softening her muscles and making her relax, tranquil in his arms. “That’s so good, Taeyong.”

“I know, CarrieAnn.”

“I feel so good when I’m with you.”

“I know you do.” He kissed her lips, her neck, the rush of her blood making him dizzy as he imagined that powerful flow under his mouth. He urged her into the bed, caressing her soft skin with his cold hands as he lay beside her. His intent gaze blurred into her dazed eyes; she started to moan when he slid his hand between her legs. It was like this. The longer he had them, the more easily they responded to his touch.

When her moan changed to a scream, he grasped the cold metal of his necklace. The silver blade popped out, just one inch long and thin as paper. He slashed the anticubital vien in the crook of her arm with surgical precision, covering it with his mouth.

Her blood poured in him like water on a fire. Rain on parched earth. He felt soothed, transported, calmed. The aching void inside him was gentled and caressed as her blood filled him. And it was more than just the blood; the hormones that poured into the blood from her sexual climax gave him that singularly pleasured and peaceful feeling along with his sustenance. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

He pulled away before he wanted to, knowing from long experience when to stop. He put pressure on the wound as he waited for her to awaken from the hypnotic trance his saliva induced. She was just starting to stir when he placed a pressure bandage on the arm.

“Thank you for taking such good care of me.” She giggled, still under the influence of his kiss. “You’re so beautiful. This makes me feel so, so good. Better than valium. Better than Xanax. I wish it lasted longer than a day.” She caressed his face. She didn’t seem to hear the sound of loud, frightened sobs coming from the room next door; quickly, the sound cut off.

“Come back on July 23, my angel.” Taeyong kissed her again as she rose up. “I’ll send you a text to remind you.”

She leaned against his body, giggling, relaxed. “You’re a little warm now. And I won’t forget.”

He smiled as he led her out. “But you will. You can't help it.”

As they emerged from the door, Taeyong saw the gray eyed man waiting quietly, leaning against the wall. He let the woman leave, and held his hand out.

“Your turn.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

Johnny slept late, the covers over his head as bright sunshine streamed through his window. He didn’t want to get up, but the room started getting hot and he was already sweating before he even got out of bed. With a groan, he pulled the sheet off his face and glared at the sunny window. He was buying blackout blinds for sure.

He sat up gingerly, but didn’t get the usual throb in his head that he got after he was out for a night of drinking. It took him a minute to remember he’d only had three beers all night, which would account for the lack of a hangover.

That club. It was a dive, but it seemed too clean to be a real dive; the tables and chairs were mismatched, but there wasn’t a rip in any of the barstools. The sound quality was really good, and the lighting was better than good, actually top shelf. HQ was like a tiny musical gem tucked away on a ramshackle street corner.

The music had been the first thing he’d noticed when he came in, the second was the cheap prices for drinks. He’d asked Beth if she was giving a friendship deal and she denied it, saying the beer was cheap all the time. Of course, that could be because of the money they made selling tickets and exchanging them for drugs. That was when Johnny saw the first of _them._ A young seeming Chinese guy dressed all in white, exchanging small brown bags for tickets with a smile. The guy was glowing whatever color the lights drew on his editorial body, and his face sucked at Johnny’s eyes like a magnet. He was almost sickeningly beautiful, and Johnny felt a strong twist of nausea just looking at him. The feeling passed as soon as the guy went a bit further away, and Johnny caught his breath in consternation.

Was it a glamour? It certainly felt like it. He’d practiced throwing glamours in school, creating illusions of all sorts, and had learned to recognize the unsettling feeling of looking at two realities at one time. Those school illusions made his stomach feel a little weird, as if something was tickling; this guy made him feel like he had the full on norovirus.

I’m just not gonna look, Johnny thought, and focused his attention back on Beth and Jae. The girl was wearing some black corset with black sparkles on it, and had her hair up in a high ponytail; she had on red lipgloss, and a lot of mascara. She looked sexy as hell, but had the same warm and friendly smile. She would talk to them a bit while making drinks, then go off to serve other customers while they hung out.

Jae was in high good spirits. He was able to drink without having to be sneaky, because he knew the bartender and she just served him without caring that he was underage. Of course, a this bar probably wasn't too stringent about enforcing any rules. He was sipping his rum and coke while watching Beth pour a line of shots at the other end of the bar. “She’s so graceful. Really, she’s like a beautiful poetry that could kick your ass,”

“Oh my god, you’re such a charmer,” Johnny snorted, pushing his fall of brown hair out of his eyes. “Tell her that next time.”

“Nah, that’s just between us.” Jae smiled slyly. “How about you? Like anybody here? That girl next to you is kinda cute.”

Johnny had to steal a glance. She was cute, in a big-eyed, waifish way, but she sat with a rigid stiffness that made her look unapproachable. She tapped her fingers on the bar over and over, and just watching her got on his nerves. “Nah, not my type.”

Beth returned, and they teased her about her outfit; the conversation was actually going pretty well for Jae, with Beth getting comfortable enough to flirt back at him. Johnny had just started his third beer when a guy walked up next to Beth, behind the bar. This guy was young, with bleached white hair and fashionable black clothing that looked like it was expensive. He had a face like a fucking angel, with beauty that sucked the soul; Johnny felt a wave of nausea as he stared the guy straight in his dark eyes. The guy looked from Johnny to Jae, his intense gaze like a drill.

“Having a good night, everyone?” The pleasant voice, with a familiar Korean accent, was queerly at odds with his intense stare.

Johnny narrowed his eyes, trying to calm the vertigo that was twisting his stomach; he nodded, and looked away.

“These two are my friends. And they are having an amazing time.” Beth smoothly filled in the silence.

An odd sound of chimes penetrated the club. They rang and rang; Johnny looked at his phone, and saw it was midnight. “The next DJ is coming on now. He plays the best dance sets, really. You two have got to go out there and dance,” Beth urged.

Jae was answering something back, but Johnny was watching the nervous girl next to him leap to her feet and follow the white haired guy as he went out from behind the bar. He took her hand like they were friends, and they continued on to be swallowed by the crowd.

Johnny was suspicious, enough so that he stopped drinking right there – but he saw the girl later in the night, dancing with a dazed and relaxed abandon, moving her body so fluidly that it seemed like it couldn’t be the same girl.

It was a strange fucking place, with a weird mix of people. But the sound was amazing and the closing DJ was talented as anyone playing in a big club in Chicago. Jae and Johnny did get out on the floor, and danced with a bunch of people with sinfully lowered inhibitions. It turned out to be a very fun night.

He didn’t get home until 5am since they were hungry after the bar and got a giant nacho in Mexicantown. Johnny fell into a coma when he got home, full of the best damn nachos he’d ever tasted, and slept peacefully and beautifully until the sun came to ruin everything.

Yawning, Johnny made himself a piece of toast and went to take a shower. The temperature was definitely rising, but he wanted to wait before he turned on the window air conditioners in the living room and his bedroom. He’d had a shock the last time he’d checked his bank account. Somehow he was spending a lot more money than he thought and he didn’t want to run up the electric bill unless it was absolutely necessary. He wasn’t going to be home all day anyway.

Cleaned up and wearing a baseball cap to keep the sun from his eyes, Johnny took a supermarket pie out of his refrigerator and headed across the street to the Jung’s. Jae was out front, polished and smiling, looking none the worse for drinking six or seven rum and cokes last night. Bertrand was there as well, bean pie in hand, and a couple neighbors were coming down the sidewalk, carrying various offerings. Johnny was introduced to a dazzling array of Jungs, from an old lady that had to be near 100, to a chubby baby that could barely toddle. He charmed the old folks by speaking to them in Korean, and helped the men finish putting up the tent over the tables where they would eat. He even managed to engage Jae’s unfriendly cousin Hansol in a conversation about the current state of the Detroit Tigers. 

Two of the boys came out of the back garage lugging big bins of equipment. “Come on! Its time for softball,” One of them shrieked. A few neighbor kids shouted and came to help with the equipment.

“Can you play?” Hansol asked Johnny, giving him an appraising stare. They were the same height, both lanky and athletic.

“I think I could give it a try,” Johnny grinned.

It seemed to go without saying that Hansol and Jae were the team captains. They picked their teams from the people who wanted to play; the two were already trash talking before the game even started. Johnny felt nostalgic as the kids put down the bases. The overgrown vacant lots were a far cry from the manicured lawns of the mansions on the lake, but the game was the same.

Hansol was the pitcher for his side, and pretty good at it. Nobody on Jae’s side scored a run in the first inning. Johnny felt a great sense of satisfaction when he got a hit off him in the second. He sent the ball into some pricker bushes so he was able to round the bases with a leisurely jog. Jae pointed at Hansol and laughed his ass off, making the older guy stare back with stone faced annoyance. They eventually recovered the ball and the game went on with Jae being struck out in three pitches. Hansol actually cracked a smile.

Johnny suffered when he was in the field, since Jae put him at first base in the baking sun. His forearms were already turning pink when the moms called them to come over and eat.

Everyone found a spot on the fold out picnic tables set up under the tent. Johnny sat with Jae and the two twelve year old cousins that always followed him around. Jaemin was a sweet-faced kid who seemed a little shy, while Renjun looked full of mischief. Both of them could hardly sit still long enough to eat; they both were up and running as soon as they were finished, giggling as they rounded the corner of the house. Johnny was eating ribs and listening to Jae talk about last night when he saw the boys sneaking up behind his friend, holding something behind their backs. Renjun held up a finger over his lips to warn Johnny to silence.

“She told me that she saw me dance and I have a good sense of rhythm. I know that means she was checking out my – WAHHH!” Jae let out a blood curdling yell as two big water balloons hit his broad back, bursting to douse him with water.

“Must have been cold,” Johnny mused, watching with interest as Jae leaped up to chase the boys around tables full of laughing adults, eventually getting one under each of his arms.

“C’mon Johnny. Lets teach these kids a lesson.” The boys were giggling helplessly, bouncing as Jae jogged around the house. “Get the hose!”

Johnny turned it on, handing it over to Jae when he let the boys go. They ran, shrieking, but he managed to squirt them pretty good before they got out of range.

“Geez, these kids.” Jae was more amused than annoyed. He ran a hand through his damp hair. “I know you saw them coming. Thanks a lot, asshole.” And he squirted Johnny, right in the chest, before throwing the hose and taking off at full speed.

“Bastard!” Johnny dove for the hose and picked it up fast enough to get one good squirt on Jae before he rounded the corner. He got up, laughing ruefully at the grass stains on his shorts, and pulled the wet shirt off of his skin to squeeze out some of the water. When he rounded the corner, he saw both boys being scolded by their mothers and Jae back at his seat, eating pie with an insouciant grin.

“The cherry pie is great, Johnny. Thanks for bringing it.”

After they ate, the adults gave up on keeping the kids dry and set up a sprinkler, the kind that had a slow arched waterfall that moved from side to side. The kids lined up to shriek and jump through it, the cold water feeling good on such a hot day. Johnny and Jaehyun let the boys push them through a few times, and even Hansol unbent enough to jump over, holding a toddler’s hand.

Johnny went home after thanking the elders of the family. He would have liked to stay longer but he actually had a lot of work to do. It was the fourth week of classes coming up, and all his professors seemed to assign something this week, test or long ass paper or in class powerpoint. The air in his place was stifling hot when he got upstairs, so much so he felt like he could hardly breathe. He turned on the window air conditioner in his bedroom and settled down to do some work. It was uncomfortable as hell. He felt sweat beading and slowly dripping down his chest as he tried to find some good articles for his paper on the database. He pointed his mini-fan at his face but it was just moving the hot air around. .

His phone was also ringing incessantly. His mother. His grandmother. Taeil texted him to set up lunch on Tuesday. A girl from the bar sent him a flirty message; he couldn’t remember giving her his number. The next time his ringer went off, he was going to shut down the phone until he saw who it was. He felt a nervous cold flush, strange in the hot environment.

“Ten?”

“Hi Johnny.” The accented voice was light and lilting. “I’m calling you.”

“Yes I know that. Because I answered it.”

Johnny heard laughter on the other end. “You said to call you if I needed help. And I need help.”

“With what?” Johnny imagined trouble; he drew in a breath.

“I need some help with my essay. Its due tomorrow and it’s a mess. I think I’m going to fail college and go home in disgrace. Or the librarian is going to kill me and bury me in the stacks. He ran away the last time I came up with a question. Will you help me? Please?”

So Johnny found himself in the undergraduate library, air conditioning blissfully cool on his skin, joining Ten at a table with scattered books, papers and an open apple laptop. Ten’s backpack was on the table, laying on its side, and Johnny saw a pair of glowing eyes in its shadowy depths. “I’m glad you could come.” Ten smiled up at him, his inner light dazzling as always, his odd beauty gracing the prosaic library room.

Johnny smiled back, swinging into a chair. “This is a great fucking idea. Why didn’t I think of this? I was sitting in a hot room sweating my ass off when you called.”

Ten’s eyes twinkled. “Its nice and cool here, almost too cold. I always bring a sweatshirt when I come here to study.” He was wearing an oversized khaki sweatshirt, the sleeves so long they nearly passed his fingertips. His black hair was mussed, probably from when he’d pulled the sweatshirt over his head.

Johnny raised an eyebrow. “That seems like overdoing it a little. It’s the middle of summer.”

“I’m from a hot place. Now will you please read this hot mess of an essay, and tell me how to fix it?” Ten gave Johnny a beseeching look, and slid the laptop toward him. “and no laughing. Or at least – laugh quietly.”

“I’ll try.” Johnny did break out in helpless laughter in a few spots, but clapped his hand over his mouth as he saw Ten’s glare. “Ok, I see what you’re doing wrong here. Go print it out and I’ll mark it up so you can fix it.”

“Thanks.” Ten was grateful. “You’re saving my life here.”

Johnny felt his cheeks flush, and willed the warmth away. “De nada.”

They went through a couple incarnations of Ten’s essay, Johnny doing his own work between fixes. Ten went on to reading for another class when he was satisfied with the final product, and Johnny started on his own writing. It took them both by surprise when a librarian announced that the building was closing in 15 minutes.

Ten put the backpack on and stacked all his other things in his arms. Johnny watched him with some amusement, especially when he heard an annoyed ‘meow’ issuing from Ten’s backpack. “Had to bring her, hunh?”

“Yeah. You know how she is.” Ten flashed him a smile, balancing the pile in his arms with the laptop balanced precariously on top.

“I’m hungry. Lets grab some food, and I’ll drop you off home.” Johnny suggested. It was just a casual invitation, but he felt suddenly nervous as he waited for Ten to answer.

“Lets get waffles.” Ten agreed, eyes lighting.

Johnny’s anxiety smoothed into mellow pleasure. “Sure.”

They parked at Ten’s apartment and walked to the Coney Island on the corner. Ten got waffles, which he ate with his weight in syrup, while Johnny ordered spinach pie and pitas. The backpack was on the seat next to Ten, with the flap open; it was far too hot still to leave the kitty in the car. Ten put some pieces of waffle on a napkin and slid them into the backpack.

For the first time probably, they had what Johnny would term a normal conversation. He found out that Ten was the youngest in his family, that he was twenty years old, but was a freshman because it had taken him two years to get permission to leave home. He had some full siblings, and more half siblings, some a lot older. “My father has had a lot of marriages,” Ten admitted, stirring his syrup into rings on his plate.

“What about your mother.”

“Oh.” There was an odd look in Ten’s exotic eyes. “I don’t remember her. We were both in an – accident, when I was small. She died, and I took a long time to get better. I know she loved me though.” Ten’s smile was small and private. “I am always sure of that. What about you, Johnny? What was your family like?”

Johnny had the distinct feeling that Ten was learning as he went along, studying how Johnny spoke to him and mirroring it back. “I was an only child. I went to boarding school since I was twelve, so I was mostly home for holidays and summers. My parents are both still around, living in Chicago. My father owns a business, and my mom does a lot of charity work.”

Ten blinked, tilting his head as he regarded the man across from him. “Everything about your life is so opposite of mine. You had so much freedom, Johnny, and at such a young age. I envy that. But – weren’t you lonely?”

“Yeah, especially the first year. But I made friends and I got used to it eventually. Were you lonely when you came here?”

A smile glimmered on Ten’s lips. “Of course I was. I still am, everyday. As much as I love being here, I do miss home. I miss my father’s smile, and the sound of his voice. I miss my siblings, how they teased me and protected me and played with me. I know them inside and out, and here everywhere I turn things are new. I love being here but sometimes new gets overwhelming. I’d like to speak the language of home and eat the food of home and…” Ten laughed, self-consciously. “I sound like a child.”

“No, I understand. Its culture shock.” Johnny was gentle. “Its normal.”

“Yes, that’s probably it. Culture shock. But I think I’m starting to figure it all out. At least I have my cat. And Elizabeth.” Ten’s expression was open, his gaze warm. “Now you too, I hope.” The look in Ten’s eyes belied his innocent words. Johnny felt his body temperature rise, just looking at him, but whatever was revealed in that heated gaze remained unspoken.

It was dark when they walked back to where Johnny had parked at the apartments. The heat had faded to a soft humid warmth, leaving a halo around the half-moon and the streetlights. Stars pricked the black velvet of the sky, and the softest breeze blew, just enough to ruffle their hair. They walked side by side, not talking, just enjoying the warm darkness and the company. As soon as they reached the parking lot, Kaya jumped out of the backpack, and followed trotting in Ten’s wake like a shadow.

At Johnny’s car, Ten loaded his stuff. Kaya jumped up on the hood of the Jeep and sat there, blinking her green eyes as if daring Johnny to do something about it.

“See you, Johnny. Its been fun.” Ten zipped the flap and slung the backpack over his shoulders. His face was lit alabaster in the moonlight, his curved lips alluring, enticing. His long, exotic eyes absorbed the dark.

Johnny really wanted to touch those lips, to see if they were as soft as he thought. He felt an ache inside as he pressed down that desire. “I’ll walk you up there?” He offered, because he wanted Ten to get there safely. Of course, that was why.

“Oh. Okay.” Ten gazed up at Johnny from under lowered eyelashes, and Johnny felt desire free itself again, surging through him as they turned to walk together.

They approached the building, the cat padding silently after. Johnny gazed curiously at a full shopping cart parked sideways, taking up a spot near a parking lot light. Uneasily, he remembered the strange homeless woman he’d encountered last time he was at Ten’s place. As they passed, Johnny looked for her, and stopped still. He saw an oddly twisted shape in the shadow thrown by the cart, and he was sure he saw splayed hands reaching out into the light.

“Ten- lets look…” Cautiously, johnny approached the shadow humped below the cart. The shape didn’t move. Johnny pushed the cart away.

The homeless woman lay illuminated on the pavement, body a mess of clothes. Her face was sunken and waxy, her eyes wide open, limbs twisted and frozen into shape. There was a strong smell of bodily fluids coming from her.

Johnny felt his heart beating hard, his eyes widening. “I think she’s dead.” He glanced at Ten, who was watching impassively. Johnny bent down beside the woman, and reached forward to see if he could find a pulse in her neck. The flesh was cold, even on this warm night. “She is dead. We’ve got to call 911.”

The cat sniffed at the corpse, then walked a few feet away to sit, her tail twitching in the air.

Ten was looking at Johnny quizzically. He kicked the body casually with his foot, and made an expression of distaste as the stiffened corpse shifted. “Why bother? Its just meat.”

Johnny stared at Ten. He wasn’t quite sure he actually saw Ten do that, or heard that right. His fingers hovered over the buttons of his phone. “What?”

“Its just an old meat. Let someone else worry about it.” Ten reached out for Johnny’s hand, pretty smile lighting his face. “Lets go.”

Johnny pulled his hand away. “Ten. _How can you say that_?” He found himself rounding on Ten, who stepped back in confusion.

“What did I –“

“I don’t care that she was homeless, her life was worth something! Every life is priceless, and should be treated with honor and respect! How can you say that she’s just an _old meat_? I think that is one of the worst things I ever heard!” After another glare at Ten, Johnny dialed the emergency number and left a message with the operator about finding the woman and where she was located.

When he hung up he found Ten staring at him, quenched, arms crossed over his chest. He looked very small. “I’m sorry Johnny.” His voice was soft. “I meant – the spirit is gone. Its just the - the meat. The flesh.”

“Don’t you respect the dead, where you’re from?” Johnny’s voice was harsh, judgemental.

Ten looked from Johnny to the corpse and back. “No?” His voice was tentative, as if he was afraid of being wrong. His body tensed as he waited for Johnny’s reaction.

Johnny stared at him, breathing out slowly, letting his anger fade a little with each breath. He couldn’t be mad at Ten. It was wrong to yell at him. The boy was from a different culture, but Johnny had never heard of any society that didn’t respect the dead. What kind of fucked up warlock family had this kid grown up in? Johnny gentled his voice. “Things are different here. Not everyone values life, but we understand that everyone should. Not everyone honors the dead, but we know it’s the right thing to do. Its what we believe here. Since you’re living here, you should try to understand how we feel.”

Ten’s nodded slowly. “I will, Johnny. I’m going to really try.”

Ten stayed with him as the police came, and people trickled in to stand in a murmuring crowd. The woman was well known to everyone in the area. After the police took his statement, Johnny was free to leave. They continued the interrupted walk to Ten’s apartment, blue and red lights reflecting from the cars and the front of the apartment complex. The cat came out from some hiding place to follow.

Ten looked thoughtful as they entered the lobby. He kept looking back at the parking lot as another emergency vehicle arrived. “You must be right, Johnny. It’s a lot of fuss for an old meat. I mean,” He caught himself, flushing pink. “A dead person.”

They rode the elevator up, and Johnny walked him to the door. “Ok, Ten. I’ll leave you here, then. Good night.” Johnny suddenly felt very tired. He began to turn away.

“But, Johnny.” Ten’s eyes glinted; he reached out and brushed Johnny’s arm with his warm fingertips, and Johnny stopped quite still as a shudder went down his spine at the touch. “I wanted to tell you I have been thinking a lot about what we talked about the last time you were here. And maybe you’re right? I don’t know, but you might be. It wouldn’t hurt me to try learning some magic from you. I want to learn some other things too, about precious life and death.” Ten tilted his head, looking into Johnny’s eyes. “Will you teach me?”

Johnny stared into Ten’s eyes, at the strange dichotomy of innocence and knowing. He had an intuition that he was diving into the deep end, but he’d made up his mind already. “Of course I will.”

Ten’s smile curled his lips, bringing a flash of heat. “Does that make me the apprentice then, and you the Master?.”

"Not officially." Johnny was sheepish. "I'm just a journeyman."

Ten uttered a silvery laugh, opening his door then pausing to look back. The cat flowed in against his feet. "Goodnight, Johnny."

"Goodnight, Ten."

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

_It was spring. The moon was out and almost full, lighting the remaining humps of snow with a bluish glow. The air smelled of moisture and loamy earth, like worms and growing things, like the tiny animals that were venturing out of hibernation and scurrying out to feed. The night was full of the sounds they made and the harsh howl of the wind. The bare limbs of the trees creaked as they rubbed together. He could scent a coming change in the weather, warmer air bringing rain that would melt the rest of the snow._

_The softening earth squished cold under Jae’s pads as he loped after Hansol. The others were chasing scents, but the two of them wanted to run. There was something in the air that made him excited, made his blood run hot and his heart beat faster. It was unfair that he had to sit still all damn day in a classroom, when he was meant for this – racing under the moonlight, body low to the ground, limbs blurring as he seemed to ghost above the earth._

_They ran through empty lots and along quiet streets, dodging the cars of late night drunks. Moonlight lit on Hansol’s sliver coat, as he tilted his head and bent an ear._

_Jae understood him as if they had been talking. Both wheeled, nails clicking on the pavement, and took off for a chain of empty lots that were full of garbage, burned out cars and overgrown pricker bushes. It was a great place, with mice, rabbits and the creatures that liked to hunt them._

_The two wolves slipped into the edge of the brambles, scanning the ground for the scent trails running at crisscross. Hansol was trotting in one direction, Jae slightly behind, when a white owl plummeted down from the sky. Hansol leaped back, crashing into Jae as the bird swooped low, talons extended, and plucked a mouse from the tuft of grass at Hansol’s toes._

_The two wolves quickly regained their footing, watching as the owl landed on a low branch, huge wings silent as it glided to its perch. It was a large bird, with white and gray mottled feathers shimmering in the moonlight as it looked down at the wolves with big dark eyes. The owl stood on one leg, the other leg up with the claw holding the dead mouse, It opened its sharp beak to hoot. It sounded a lot like laughter._

_They trotted up to the tree. Jae cocked his head, looking at the owl, then jumped back as the bird dropped the mouse where his head had been. The owl hooted again. Hansol uttered a questioning yip, which meant, in wolf, “who are you?”_

_The owl just stared at them, moving its head._

_Jae didn’t know what made him do it. Maybe it was the recklessness of spring, or curiosity, or just the fact that he’d been a wolf for hours and nothing scared him when he was like that. But Jae imagined his body changing, pictured himself as a man-_

_And rose up off his hands and knees to stand up. Of course he was naked, and the air was cold as hell on his skin. The owl was only a few feet above his head, staring at him._

_“Who are you?” He asked._

_The owl looked him up and down, hooted in laughter, and spread silent wings to ghost away._

_That’s when Hansol nipped him on the ass._

Jae gazed at his closet, air conditioning blowing on his bare feet, ignoring the two kids wrestling on his bed. He had some nice clothes, not too many, mostly bought by himself from his summer jobs. Most of the time he didn’t really care what he wore, but he was going to see Beth at the Asian American Club meeting and he didn’t want to wear the same things each time.

“Hansol has a lot of nice clothes,” Renjun said slyly from behind him. Jae glanced back to see Renjun and Jaemin sitting at the edge of his bed, only slightly out of breath from their tussle.

“How do you know what I’m thinking, you little monster?” Jae ran a hand through his dark hair, exasperated.

“Cause you stand there rubbing your chin and saying, ‘shirt, shirt.’. Jaemin dissolved into giggles when Renjun elbowed him. “It ain’t ESP.”

“Hansol will never lend me his clothes.” Jae groaned and collapsed into his desk chair. “There was that unfortunate incident with his Polo oxford and that angry girl – I don’t know what she was mad about, but she had a sharpie marker. There were that pair of expensive jeans and the new asphalt, and…”

“Damn. How many of his fancy duds have you ruined?” Renjun was impressed.

Jaemin was smiling, his angelic expression a clear indication that he was already plotting something. “We would never let you go out to meet a hot babe with your crappy clothes. Would we, Renjun.”

“No.” The other boy’s eyes were sparkling.

“And we owe you one, for helping us out with Johnny.” Both boys nodded gratefully.

“Just remember to stay off his car.” Jae was chuckling at the memory. “Oh my god, I thought he was gonna explode when he saw those claw marks on the roof of his Jeep. He threatened to turn you two into rabbits.” Jae pinned the boys with an intimidating stare, and whispered threateningly, “ _Rabbits_. He would have done it too, if it weren’t for me.”

“Oh, we know.” Jaemin’s was grateful. “You’re gonna look like a million bucks. You ready, Renjun? We will now commence with Operation; Shirt.”

“Oh?” Renjun looked intrigued.

“Nope, not in front of me. I must have plausible deniability if questioned.” Jae opened his door and waved them out. “I’m not going to have anything to do with your shenanigans but if a shirt just shows up in my room…” His dimples flashed as he winked.

“Gotcha.” The boys both gave him exaggerated winks before they raced down the long hallway. Jae watched them go, immediately feeling a little guilty for encouraging them to do something wrong… but he did need to wear a different shirt this time. And since Hansol actually had a good job at an engineering firm, he made enough money to have a nice wardrobe, even after he paid his portion of the household expenses.

Jae sighed and shut his door, flopping to lie on his bed. It was very quiet in his room now, which was unusual for this house. It had once been a boarding house, purchased by his thrifty ancestors in the 1930’s when the great depression hit. They had their money buried in the backyard instead of putting it in banks; they paid cash for the big house. They rented out rooms and raised their kids. Some left and some stayed, breeding more Jungs to form a thriving clan. There were more than 20 of them living in the house now, and it felt fairly full with that number.

Jae had never questioned why they did things the way they did; when he went to school and saw the different family structures other kids had, he became more grateful for his own group. They had a traditional household, with the men working and the women running the place. It was no joke to run a household with 20 plus people in it, including little kids that were homeschooled and old people who needed attention. That was not even to talk about meals and laundry for twenty. Jae’s mom took over when Grandmother grew too old to handle the job, and the family thrived under her benign dictatorship.

Jae really couldn’t imagine living in a place with one mother, one father, one sibling; or even worse, completely on his own. At home he had his parents, and aunts and uncles; grandparents, and other elders. He had his own older siblings, and his many cousins, plus his own little niece who was the first of the new generation. Anytime he was unhappy, there were so many there to encourage him, or hug him, or nip him if he needed it. There was always a crowd for games or many hands to help get chores done. They celebrated the good together, and supported each other through the bad.

He never wanted to leave.

There was a loud knock on the door.

Jae opened it slowly. There was nobody in sight, but there was a crumpled Meijer’s bag on the ground, and when Jae opened it, he pulled out a Burberry short-sleeve button up. “Nice,” He muttered, hiding a grin and shutting the door again.

“Dude, why are you wearing a jacket,” Johnny asked immediately when Jae hopped in the Jeep with him. Johnny himself was wearing shorts and an old washworn blue tee. Johnny didn’t dress up for anything; Jae had figured that out already.

“No reason.” Jae pulled the jacket off as the car eased out into the street.

“Nice shirt.” Johnny raised his eyebrows, then grinned. “Oh, I forgot. Your coffee date.”

“Yep.”

“Way to be a tryhard.”

“Hey, its better that showing up looking like you. Ten’s going to dump you for a better dressed wizard pretty soon, I’m sure of it.” Jae had been pretty surprised last week when Ten had come home with him and Johnny, and the latter had explained to him that Johnny was giving the kid lessons. “An untrained wizard is a danger to himself and others,” Johnny said sanctimoniously, while the Thai kid held his black cat and nodded as if Johnny was a guru.

“How did your lesson go, by the way?”

Johnny snorted, and he tapped his fingers on the wheel. “Well, not that great? He doesn’t seem to get it, but I’m not going to give up yet.”

“Yeah, be persistent. Even if he sucks at magic he’s still very cute.” Jae poked Johnny in the side, grinning. “Haha you just smiled, I saw it.”

“Shuddup,” Johnny straightened his mouth and turned on the radio.

At the club meeting, the first thing Jae noticed was that Beth was wearing short shorts and her legs were long, tan and muscular. The second thing was that she wasn’t smiling and had a worried look in her eyes that was unusual for her. He approached her right away, catching her eye. “What’s the matter? You don’t look happy.”

“Oh.” She bit her lip, smiling a little. She excused herself from the group she was with, and pulled Jae aside, her hand on his arm. “Could you tell I was worried? Its dumb. But my brother told me he’s gonna quit dj’ing at HQ, and I know Taeyong is going to hit the roof over it. My brother won’t tell him though. He’s going to leave a message on Friday night to let him know! What a coward.” She grimaced, green eyes glinting in annoyance. “I’ll be there though, and the boss will figure I knew about it and could have told him, and he’ll be right. But my damn brother made me promise not to say anything! I think he’s scared of them.”

Jae smiled at her. She was close enough that he could scent her, and he would love to breathe in that musky sweetness all day. “I have a solution to your problem.”

She blew out her breath. “What is it?”

Jae called out, “Johnny! C’mere.”

Johnny looked up when Jae yelled for him and came over, Ten following at his heels. “What?”

“Beth, Johnny’s a dj. I’ve heard his stuff on soundcloud and its really good.” Jae pointed to Johnny. “You’ve been whining all week about how you need money. You even made me give you money for gas.”

“I drive your ass all over town,” Johnny complained.

“Well, be there at HQ on Friday when the 10 pm dj doesn't show up. If you impress the boss, you’ll get a job. And Beth won’t get into trouble for her brother being a dipshit.”

Beth looked impressed. “Well, that would be a good solution if you’d like to try it.”

Johnny gave them both a pained look, as if there was something about the idea he didn’t like but he was reluctant to say it.

“I’d like to see you dj,” Ten said, smiling like a burning sun. “Please do it.”

And Jae had to press his lips together to keep from grinning before Johnny actually acquiesced. He knew it was just a formality, and Ten had made up his mind for him.

The meeting seemed to take forever, but finally it drew to a close and people were saying goodbye and leaving. Jae felt awkward, approaching Beth again and asking if she was ready to go. His mind ran over the possibilities - was she going to pretend she didn’t remember, or claim something came up?

But she smiled at him, teeth looking whiter than ever against her tan skin. “Sure. Lets go.”

Outside the building, the sunlight was golden as it slanted across the streets. People were still out walking and stared at the couple, quite unashamed; it was pleasant to see two beautiful people, more beautiful together. They easily fell into rhythm as they strolled, enjoying the warmth and the flowery scent of summer.

The coffee shop was a couple blocks away. They walked there with light conversation, talking about their families, their majors, and the hobbies they liked to do. They both got iced coffees and sat outside, watching the traffic and pedestrians as they sipped.

Elizabeth stared at him with her big eyes, making a little frisson go down his spine until she smiled, hiding a laugh behind a hand. “I think I owe you an apology.”

“Why?”

“Well, for laughing so hard when I first saw you in class. I think my face turned red. It was embarrassing, but I couldn’t help it.”

Jae’s dark eyes twinkled, remembering. “It was funny. It was more embarrassing when I figured out why.” Now he was the one to hold her eyes, and he saw her hands shake when she set down her drink. He reached out to take her fingers gently in his, still cool from holding the iced coffee. “The last time you saw me, I was completely naked. Though I don’t know how you could remember, it was more than a year ago.”

“Oh, my god.” She squeezed his fingers, trying not to laugh again and failing. “How could I forget you? Who does that kind of thing?” She leaned forward, her voice dropping to a whisper. “You change shape right in front of me like that! And then strut up naked as the day you were born for a little small talk? It was a never to be forgotten moment.” After a moment her smile faded, and she leaned back in her chair, regarding him curiously. “That wasn’t the last time I saw you, though. I’ve glimpsed you from time to time, out hunting.”

He returned the curious gaze. Now the truth was out there between them, there were so many questions he wanted to ask. “Is your family in Michigan, too?”

“Yes, we are. Halfway up the state.” She smiled at him, her expression open.

“Are they all like you?” He teased. “Birds of a feather?”

She groaned, hiding her face with her hand. “Stop. Yes, all like me.”

“So why did you leave, to go to school?” He was intrigued. “Tell me everything.”

She suddenly looked uncomfortable, but instead of taking her hand away, she slid it deeper into his. He wove his fingers through hers, waiting for her to talk, watching the way the sunshine lit a stripe across her hair, painting it with gold. “Well, I guess it’s an old story. The leader of our flock brought in a new wife and she couldn’t stand to have me there. The group looked to me, not to her – and it wasn’t going to change while I was there. My father – I mean, the leader –“ She knew he caught her slip. She grimaced and went on. “He offered to send me here, and I told him I would come. I don’t want to be the cause of strife at home. My brother came with me, because he couldn’t stand her.” Beth laughed softly. “So at least we are together. I’m not alone.”

“You’re brave.” Jae told her. Something tightened inside him, but he kept his fingers loose on hers. “I know how hard it must have been for you to go.”

“Two leaders means a house divided.” She shrugged, as if she didn’t care anymore. “One alpha male and one alpha female per clan, excepting the heirs being groomed for leadership. If there’s more than one in a generation, the extras have to go.” She gave him a meaningful look. “I’m sure _you_ know. No average wolf would act like you do.”

“I know.” _No one better._ He tasted bitterness in his mouth, and wondered what he should tell her. “The clan votes for who they want in that situation. They judge the leader on his qualities – honesty, judgment, bravery, intelligence – and also on his mate. Because it takes a pair to lead a clan.” Jae sipped his iced coffee, effecting nonchalance. “I have to learn all that stuff. Its part of the leadership training.”

“I think I should tell you- I like you, Jae, but I’m going to take things slow.” Her eyes were thoughtful. “You’ve been really patient, and that impressed me. But I know your type.”

“My type?” Jae put on an innocent face, then dropped the affectation with a laugh. He gave her an ingenuous look. “Lets be completely honest here. Only my type dares to approach your type, Elizabeth. Why don’t you just let yourself like me, without worrying too much about the rest?”

“Ha. We’ll see.” But her eyes had glowed back at him when they exchanged a smile.

The sun had set when they parted, going in opposite directions on the street in front of the café. She’d given him a hug, which had felt like paradise as his nose was suffused with her lovely scent and his body pressed so nicely into her soft resilience. Her hair was silky against his cheek, her arms wrapped tight around his back, and he felt a heady exhilaration was still there when he was walking down his block and into his house.

In fact, he totally forgot about the shirt until he heard Hansol’s yell of fury.

 

Darkness rolled across the sky, and stars came out. Taeyong leaned against a tree trunk in the vacant lot kitty corner from Jae’s house. He stood motionless, just a deeper shadow under the canopy of the overhanging branches. He wore a dark beanie over his head to keep the moon from lighting up his sliver hair like a torch, but so far the night was only lit by starlight.

He gazed up at the top floor, at the window he knew belonged to Jae, and wondered if he would see him again tonight. He felt his body surge with an inarticulate longing, and felt frustration because he didn’t know what he was longing for, other than to see the man, to speak to him and ask him-

_Who are you?_

_Who am I?_

_What are we?  
_ But he could never even get close. This was the second night he’d come here to watch that house. He’d followed Jae home after he stopped by the club on Saturday to talk to the bartender; followed him here, and tried to climb onto the roof but woke the house with his silent footsteps. He’d barely gotten out of there without being seen.

The door opened abruptly, streaming light across the lawn. Startled, Taeyong jumped to grip the branch above his head. He easily swung himself up into the tree, staring through the swaying leaves as three kids scampered through the yard toward the back of the house. They came back to the front dragging garbage cans, and left them at the roadside before running back in.

The door shut, the porch light shut off. Taeyong glanced down, prepared to jump back to the ground, but stopped like he was frozen.

Holly stood under the tree, an adorable pixie in a short cotton dress. Her lovely face was lit by starlight as she looked up at him. “What are you doing, Taeyong? Can I play?”

_No_ , NO, no. Anxiety lit his nerves like fire. He didn’t want Holly here; he didn’t want her anywhere near here. He had no idea how she had followed him. “I’m not doing anything, Holly.” He jumped off the branch, landing lightly on his feet like a cat.

“You’re watching that house.” She pointed out, reaching up to pull his hat straight on his head. “Why?”

“I’m done. Its boring.” He caught her tiny hands in his and smiled at her. “Lets go home.”

“Lets go to the casino.” Holly’s face bloomed in a smile.

“OK.” Taeyong would have agreed to anything to get her out of there. “Lets go.” He grasped her hand, dragging her behind him to where he parked his car a block over. The girl looked back, little feet tripping in the wake of his broad steps, her eyes narrowed as she saw a light turn on in an upstairs window.


	10. Chapter 10

The joke will start like this, Johnny thought as he parked his Jeep. A wizard and a shifter walk into a bar…

It was still light. The sun had set, and reds and purples swallowed up the distance as the darker clouds moved in. HQ was in a small, dilapidated building that was painted green. Its faded sign was barely visible from the road, but patrons were already beginning to take the closest spots in the small parking lot. Johnny and Jae gave their names to the bouncer at the door, and he let them in without charging a cover, giving them the red bracelets that “friends” wore. They left the sunset behind to walk into the half-darkness of HQ, and Johnny felt a peculiar sense of homecoming.

A tape was playing over the excellent sound system, music that was more low key than what was on later in the night, and the dance floor was still in shadow. The fresh smell of cleaning products underlay a heavier, sweeter scent that was just beginning to waft through the place. Jae grinned back at Johnny as he led them over to the bar. The green neon light that curved around the back of the bar reflected on the mirrors behind the liquor bottles and dyed Jae’s white t–shirt a pale green. The younger guy was wearing his dark hair gelled back from his forehead; he looked older than his nineteen years with his hair out of his face and his bold, confident smile. “Nervous?” Jae teased as he pulled out a bar stool.

“Who, me?” Johnny raised his eyebrows. He was in track pants and a t-shirt that said “ _rich is the new black_ ” in gold old English letters. He always wore loose fitting clothes to dj since he hated not being able to move freely when he was working. He had his hair pushed back too, and a headband hanging around his neck for later.

“Yeah you, superstar. Any stage fright?” Jae was teasing him now.

“I’m cool.” Johnny had done this kind of gig before – but he was nervous, the good kind of nervous that made him keyed up and anticipatory. Was the crowd going to like the music he played? Were they gonna like the transitions? Was he gonna screw up and get beer bottles thrown at him? He would have to wait and see. “I can’t believe Ten talked me into this and he isn’t even here yet.”

“Why didn’t he want to come with us?” Jae was curious. “You’re always driving him lately.”

“I don’t know, I offered…” Johnny glanced at his phone, but stuck it back in his pocket as Beth approached. She was wearing a red top this night, low cut but flowing, and her golden-brown locks in waves down on her shoulders. “Hey guys.” She was relieved to see them. “Are you ready to go on, Johnny? I think my brother will text Taeyong soon…”

“I’m all ready,” He assured her. “I spent some time making up a playlist and practiced everything; it should be ok.”

“Good.” She smiled, eyes warm. “I’ll get you drinks. I’ll be right back.”

Jae was relaxed and smiling, watching Beth work behind the bar with a possessive interest. Beth put beer in front of Johnny and a rum and coke in front of Jae. "These are on me. Thanks for being here, guys."

It was always nice to loosen up a bit before a gig. Johnny took a sip, then glanced sideways as a shoulder bumped his.

"Hi Johnny." It was Ten. His eyes reflected the neon lights hanging behind the bar and sparkled green. The black cat curled around his shoulders, furry tail twitching against his cheek. Her ears perked as she surveyed the place with an emerald stare, ignoring Johnny. It seemed he had become irrelevant to the familiar. "Do I look ok for this kind of place? Elizababy told me to look nice."

Johnny felt something inside him clench tight. Ten looked too good. He was wearing silver and black studs in his ears, with one black hoop in each lobe, and his eyelids were kohled lightly with a smoky line of black against his upper eyelashes. He wore an oversized black button up, with the first few buttons undone to show some luminous skin and the black tank underneath. Ten waited during Johnny’s slow perusal, watching him with intent eyes and curved red lips.

"You look really good. Too good. Button your shirt up." Johnny replied, gruff voice hiding his admiration.

"Okay." Ten did the buttons, hands glowing pale against the darkness of his clothing. "You look really handsome, Johnny. I really like your face. And I like your hair like that."

And Johnny could feel his cheeks heat up. "Thanks." Ten was getting better at talking to people and he knew he should chase a compliment with a compliment; the wording itself still had his unique twist.

"What about me?” Jae gave them a cocky grin, looking past Johnny at Ten. "Don't I look gorgeous?" The younger guy posed, holding up a couple fingers.

"You're very handsome," Ten laughed, winking flirtatiously. "Beth is gorgeous." He made sure to be loud enough for her to hear as she approached.

She smiled and put a saucer full of milk on the bar. Kaya jumped off Ten and went to lap at it, as if she was a perfectly ordinary cat. Of course, most bars might object to patrons bringing pets, but this place was different. “What are you drinking, babe?"

"Long Island ice tea," Ten replied with a smirk.

"Okay." She shot a finger gun at him. “Be right back.”

“I think I like this place. Its easy to get a drink here.” Ten’s beautiful smile graced their eyes.

The music segued into a song Johnny liked, something by Phantogram that suited his mood. He felt a bit more than a little content with the world. He drew in a deep breath of the sultry air, and let the feelings of happiness wrap him like honey. He was going to be performing, which he really enjoyed, and maybe making some money. Jae and Ten were talking to each other, bantering over the fact that neither of them were drinking age, and it made Johnny happy that Jae didn’t seem inclined to harm Ten in any way. Ten was still an intriguing and infuriating mystery, one that knew how to dress for display at the bar, which gave Johnny severely mixed feelings. He would drown them in beer.

He was on his second one when Jae’s head had whipped up, turning to the door like someone had called him. "Motherfucker," Jae hissed, not sounding happy at all, and Johnny followed his gaze.

Hansol had just come through the door and was waiting for a couple other guys to be searched by the bouncer. He was dressed casually, wearing a form-fitting button up that showed off his broad shoulders and lean body, and had his hair brushed down over his forehead and pushed to the side. Even in the half-darkness he was eye catching, with his height and his large eyes and the half smile on his face. He followed his friends to sit at a table, then looked up to see his cousin. A smile flitted across his mouth, and he got up to approach them.

Johnny wasn't surprised to see him. He'd run into Hansol that afternoon; Jae’s older cousin had been getting out of his car, and came over to Johnny's side of the street to ask a few casual questions about what he and Jae had planned for the night.

"I might come check it out, I'm going out with some work friends," the tall guy had remarked nonchalantly. "What club?"

So Johnny had told him. Why not? Maybe if they hung out a little Hansol would unfreeze. The guy hardly talked, and never smiled in Johnny’s recollection.

Hansol stood between Jae and Johnny’s barstools. “So this is where you’ve been coming for the past couple weeks?” He lifted up Jae’s drink and sniffed it, his dark brows rising.

Jae snatched it back, carefully as not to spill. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see Johnny.” He gave Johnny a half smile that looked insincere. “And to see what you’ve been up to lately. You’ve been going out a lot. People are getting concerned about you.” He glanced down the bar, letting his gaze rest on Johnny, then Ten, brows drawing down a little in confusion when he saw the cat sitting on the bar, her tail wrapping around Ten’s wrist.

“I can go wherever I want.” Jae was irritated by Hansol’s condescending tone. He sat up straighter. “I’m over eighteen, and I can go to any bar in this city.”

“Yeah, but you’re not supposed to drink. Do you have a fake Id or something?” Hansol was suspicious.

Jae smirked. “Don’t need one.”

“I’ll see what the bartender says about that.” Beth was returning with Ten’s mixed drink. She was about to set it down when she looked up to see Hansol. His body tensed as their eyes met, and the glass slipped through her suddenly nerveless fingers. Tea spilled out in a puddle on the bar. She stared at the tall man with sudden recognition, blinking her green eyes as she viewed his face. Shyly, she asked, “The silver wolf?”

Hansol nodded. His fingers tightened to white on the edge of the bar as he stared back at her. “I recognize you. I’ve seen you from time to time, since you dropped that mouse on Jae.”

Elizabeth blushed, smiling with a nervous flutter of eyelashes. It was strange to see her so awkward, since Beth was always chill. Hansol smiled slowly back, obviously enjoying the view.

 _Jae will not be appreciating this one bit_. Johnny bit his lip, glancing over at his friend.

Jae’s looked like his mouth was full of something bitter, and it wasn’t going down well. “Meet my cousin, Hansol. Beth is the bartender here, and my… friend.” The pause made it obvious Jae wanted to call her his girlfriend, and mark his territory, but she wasn’t his territory yet. All he could do was dig his fingers into Hansol’s wrist and remove his hand from the edge of the bar. “You should get back to your friends, cuz.”

“Oh, man. I’ve got to clean this up. I’ll be right back.” Elizabeth’s seemed to come back to herself. Flushing, she hurried to get a rag from the other end of the bar. Hansol’s dark eyes followed her.

“Don’t fucking stare, Hansol. Its inappropriate.” Jae gritted, giving him a wave to make it even clearer he should go.

Johnny suppressed a laugh, knowing that it wouldn’t be appreciated if he pointed out the hypocrisy. Ten watched the scene with interest.

Hansol spared Jae a flick of a glance. “Now I know why you’ve been coming to this dive. But you should have told me you met the owl.”

Jae growled and the cousins exchanged a hot glare, which faded to cool neutrality as Beth returned. She threw some rags on the bar and mopped up the mess.

Johnny felt the tension in the atmosphere and decided to just ignore it. “You broke my heart, you know.”

“Why,” Beth smiled warmly at him.

“You’re a shifter, and you never told me?” He gripped his heart like he was dying. He wasn’t that surprised, really – just some hints here and there, and some of the things that Jae casually told him about pack life. Shifters might fool around with humans, but they didn’t get serious about them. Jae would never have chased a normie girl the way he chased Beth.

“Did you tell me you were a wizard?” She countered. Johnny had the grace to look abashed; she shook her head as she wiped up the bar. “Yeah, Ten told me a while ago. Seriously Johnny – you of all people should realize.” She snorted with amusement. “You can’t be a normie and work in this place. The visuals will put you out of your mind.” She poured another drink for Ten, and handed it to him with a motherly pat on his head.

“She’s a pretty owl.” Ten smiled around the straw in his mouth, exotic eyes half lidded. “Long claws though. Don’t let her ride on your shoulder.”

Johnny was actually annoyed now. “You told her about me, but didn’t tell me about her? What’s up with that?”

“You never asked.” Ten leaned close to whisper, his hot breath tickling Johnny’s ear. “You’d know if you used your Sight a little more. Shifters are all green, and you can see the shape of the spirit animal if you try.”

“You can’t even light a candle but you are gonna school me on how to use my Sight?” Johnny muttered back, not sure if he was amused or offended. “Don’t drink it that fast. That thing is pretty much half alcohol?”

“Alcohol doesn’t really affect me much,” Ten remarked with a flashing grin, already down to the ice cubes of his Long Island. “And I’m thirsty, I think.”

“Those are some famous last words.” Johnny shook his head, pushing back his hair. “I’m gonna have to carry you home.”

“No, I’m driving,” Ten said confidently. “I bought a car, and I drove it here too. Its perfect for someone like me. Just plug in the address and it tells me where to go, no remembering directions needed.”

Johnny had to laugh. “You can’t drive when you’re drunk, Ten. They’ll take your license and your life will be over.”

“I don’t have a license anyway, so I have nothing to worry about.” Ten’s smile increased the temperature around them by at least fifteen degrees. “Right?”

Johnny shook his head. This was more than he was prepared to deal with, right now. He glanced to the other side as Ten reached out and rubbed Kaya’s head with his index finger and she blinked her glowing eyes.

“I’m sorry about your shirt.” Beth was looking at Hansol with a shy smile; his shirt was covered in tan droplets, overspray from the spilled drink. Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment. “I normally don’t just drop things, really.”

Hansol’s grin made him look curiously warm and approachable. “Its okay. It’s a small price to pay to have met you, finally.”

“Wow, that’s touching,” Jae muttered ominously.

“Haha. What a cute kid.” Hansol appeared to give Jae a friendly pat, but he dug his fingers hard into the muscle of Jae’s shoulder as a warning. Jae didn’t stiffen, or show that Hansol was hurting him, other than to glare at his cousin. “Such a sense of humor.”

Elizabeth looked between them. “I think I see the family resemblance. You’re both so handsome.” She was returning to her usual confident self, but it was obvious that Hansol had shaken her in some way.

“Jae here is just nineteen. I’m twenty three.” Hansol explained. “I’ve been out of college for a year now.”

“Oh.” She looked a bit impressed. “Can I get you a drink, Hansol?” Beth glanced down the bar, seeing people waiting.

“He wasn’t going to stay,” Jae interrupted, fingers whitening with the pressure he was exterting as he plucked Hansol’s hand from his shoulder.

“I’ll have a crown royal on the rocks. And I am going to stay. This place looks a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.” Hansol smirked at Jae. “I’m so glad I came.”

Jae narrowed his eyes and shook his head. There was menace in his voice. “You really should go.”

Hansol’s big dark eyes absorbed the glare without reaction. “Like you said. I can go to any bar in town. Including this one.” Hansol smiled again as Beth set down his drink, then hurried away to fill some orders. He took a wallet from his pocket and peeled off a ten, throwing it on the bar before picking up his drink to take it back to his friends.

There was almost visible steam coming from Jae’s head. He picked up his rum and coke and tossed it back, adam’s apple moving in his pale throat as he downed the entire drink.

The door to the back rooms slammed open, loud enough to be heard over the music. The white-haired manager stood there for a moment, silhouetted against the darkness, but then he closed the door behind him. The man crossed the room fluidly, coming behind the bar with his phone in his hand like an accusation.

Johnny could actually look at the guy today without feeling sick; maybe the glamour was wearing off. The manager was in black again, simple skinny jeans and a sleeveless button-up with a mandarin collar. The whipcord muscles in his arm moved as he shoved his phone at Beth. His face was finely drawn, but it was saved from too much delicacy by a firm jaw and intense, deep eyes with dark brows. Now that jaw was set so hard it looked painful. “Beth! Your brother is quitting. He just texted me. Just now! And the set starts in thirty minutes!” Slim as he was, he was intimidating when he raised his voice like that.

Beth winced. “I know, Taeyong.”

“Yuta is supposed to be back tonight.” The manager’s voice was more controlled now, but it was easy to tell he was upset. “He can’t come back to a big mess.” He pushed a frustrated hand through his pale locks

“That’s why I brought a replacement.” Confidently, Beth made a gesture toward Johnny. “This is my friend Johnny! He’s an experienced DJ. He’s willing to fill in for tonight, and if you like him, he’d love to come work here.”

Taeyong stared at Johnny, and blinked once, stopped short in the middle of his tirade. Johnny essayed a little smile. “Hi. I’ve got my stuff in my car, and I’m ready to go on whenever you say.”

The manager frowned, looking from Beth to Johnny. “I don’t have much choice, do I? I hope you don’t suck. I’ll take you up there and show you the equipment if you want.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Johnny agreed.

Taeyong’s gaze lingered over Jae before he put his phone in his pocket. Jae was playing with his empty glass, looking back at Taeyong expressionlessly. “Ok then.” The manager sighed. “Follow me.”

Johnny was familiar with the stuff they had, and went out to get his computer from his car; he had his board too, but decided to use the system they already had set up. He hadn’t realized how thick the atmosphere was inside the bar; the air was clean and fresh outside, and he filled his lungs with some deep breaths as he walked to his car. It was dark, and the parking lot lights were half burned out, but he couldn’t help but spot a bright red Porsche Boxter parked a few spots down from his Jeep. Not only did it look brand new, but it still had dealer plates. “Oh no he didn’t,” Johnny muttered to himself, but he was pretty sure Ten _did_. How did you just decide you’re going to get a car, and end up with that one? And then park it stupidly and conspicuously in a bad part of town?

“Is something wrong?”

Johnny jumped a foot and dropped his laptop. The guy that startled him had great reflexes, and caught it before it hit the ground; he straightened up and handed it back to Johnny, who clutched it to his chest like a infant. Johnny could feel his heart beating in a frenzy from being so close to disaster.

“I’m sorry.” The guy was maybe nineteen, twenty tops. He had a quiet accented voice, and a sweet smile that was strangely gentle. Johnny recognized him; he’d been the one exchanging drugs for tickets in the bar the last time Johnny was there, the guy dressed all in white. That night, the intensity of the beguilement that emanated from this guy made Johnny want to hurl. Now he could look the guy straight in the eyes with only a mild indigestion.

“Don’t apologize, you rescued my baby.”

The guy chuckled. “I heard you talking?”

“I was just worried about my friends’ car. You know this isn’t the greatest neighborhood,” Johnny glanced at the Porsche.

“Oh, that? Don’t worry. Nothing is going to happen to anyone’s car here,” The dark haired guy smiled. “We have security.”

Johnny couldn’t help but wonder what kind of security. He remembered what Beth had said. “ _You can’t be a normie and work in this place. The visuals will put you out of your mind_.”

“That’s good to hear. I’m Johnny, by the way. I’m going to be replacing the 10pm DJ.”

“Oh.” The guy made a little disappointed pout, eyeing Johnny for a moment before putting a smile on again. “Welcome, Johnny. I’m Sicheng. Just let me know if there is anything you need, okay? We like to keep our employees happy.”

“Thanks, Sicheng.”

“You’d better hurry. Your set is going to start soon.”

 

Johnny had a fuzzy white headband on to catch his sweat, and danced along to his own music, obviously having as good a time as the crowd. The light show was even better from the stage, and the equipment was the best; it was amazing to have such high end gear in a dive like this. Johnny was a born showman, he loved to put a fun energy into everything he did and enjoy the music as much as the audience. It was obvious he’d already made a very good impression on the females in the room; a group of them were gathered near him, dancing sexy to catch his eye. Johnny was having fun. Even if he didn’t get hired for this gig, it was definitely a good time. He loved to see the crowd scream when he threw in a drop at just the right time, or put two songs together so good it made them throw up their hands. It felt amazing to have the crowd in the palm of his hand.

The first few tracks, Taeyong had stood against the wall and watched him, but the manager must have been satisfied because he left soon after that. Johnny loosened up even more, relaxing and getting into his groove with it.

When he was in the middle of a track, he could watch the dance floor and check out what people were doing. Hansol was on the floor with his friends, dancing with some girls too, and that guy could dance. He had a masculine flow about him, just like Jae did, that made his moves stand out. Sicheng was dancing sensually with another guy, almost like he was teasing him. Johnny couldn’t look too long, and couldn’t look away – Sicheng’s beautiful face pulled at his eyes, his stomach was twisting and he felt distinctly sick. The push and pull made him dizzy. Why now, again? Was it something these damn guys could turn off and on, like a flipping water spout?

He had a complicated little bit to set up for the next track. It didn’t go perfect, but the crowd liked it if the shouts were any indication. The next time he looked out past his girl fans, he saw Jae in the crowd, dancing with a changing parade of females, and Ten was there too, moving with an unconscious grace and smiling at Johnny. When their eyes met, Johnny couldn’t see anyone else. He loved the way Ten danced, so naturally, like the music just pulled him along so beautifully and made his body move. He didn’t know why he was surprised – just that Ten had such a sheltered life, where would he have learned to move like that? If watching Sicheng made his stomach sick and hungry, watching Ten was a waterfall that cleared all that away. No matter where Ten went, Johnny could always see him, a glowing figure in the dark moving puzzle of the dancefloor.

A tiny brunette came out to dance with a muscular guy who was a head taller than her, and Johnny made sure to skip his eyes over her when he felt that familiar twisting. Auugh –another one? That eye skipping thing was working well for him, so he almost missed it when Sicheng changed his partner again.

This time the person Sicheng reached for was Ten. Johnny could see Sicheng’s gentle smile lighted up as the colors shifted with the beat, and the way Ten put his hands flat on the other man’s chest, holding him away as the other tried to get close, smiling back and laughing as Sicheng moved them around. Ten slid his way out of Sicheng’s grasp, and wove through the people to leave the dance floor. The taller man tried to follow, but stopped to talk to a man at the edge of the dancefloor. This man had his back to Johnny, so he wasn’t sure if he’d seen him before, but Sicheng left off following Ten and returned to dancing as if nothing had happened.

Ten was back on the barstool, the cat nearby if not on him; for the first time, Johnny was grateful for the familiar. If that Sicheng was up to anything, Kaya would do something about it. Johnny couldn’t see it really clearly, but it seemed like the man who had talked to Sicheng approached Ten and bent to speak with him. Johnny had to put his attention back on the job, to set up his closing track. Johnny started again to see another guy standing next to him.

“Hi. I’m the next DJ.”

Johnny handed over the headphones and watched as the new dj plugged his memory stick into the board. He faded the track out, and accessed one of the tracks on the stick.

Chimes. 12 chimes, calling the hour. For some reason, the sound gave Johnny the chills.

He put his computer under his arm and hopped off the stage. The tiny darkhaired girl, Sicheng and a couple other people were going through the door into the back rooms, but Taeyong was at the bar, serving drinks. Jae and Ten were there, sitting next to each other, and there was a man on the other side of Ten that Johnny didn’t recognize. Elizabeth was sitting at the table with Hansol. The two shifters were close to each other. He was talking, and she was listening, looking fascinated with whatever he was saying.

Johnny put a hand on Jae’s shoulder, feeling sympathy for his friend. “Hey, man.”

“Good set, Johnny.” Jae looked up with a lopsided grin. Johnny wondered how much he’d had to drink, as Taeyong blandly put another rum and coke in front of him. Taeyong’s glamour was still turned down to low, making him easy to look at, thank god.

“You were amazing, Johnny.” Ten’s voice was bubbling with excitement. “It was so much fun. I had such a good time. Are you going to do it again?” He turned to the man next to him. “You said you were going to have him do it again.”

The man got out of his seat. He was wearing casual clothes, and had reddish-brown hair that looked like it needed a trim. He looked young, was medium height, and had a cast of features that made Johnny think he was Japanese. Taeyong was carefully watching his every move from behind the bar. The man held out his hand. “I’m Yuta. I own this place.”

Johnny clasped his hand and introduced himself. “Johnny.”

“Ah.” Yuta smiled, and shook his head ruefully as he eyed Johnny. “You did a good job. We need someone on Friday and Saturday nights. You want the job? 250 a night. And free beer.”

“Yes please.” Johnny agreed quickly. Ten clapped his hands in excitement, and Jae gave a woozy thumbs up. Yuta nodded as he left, waving Elizabeth back to the bar. Taeyong hurried out into the crowd, and Johnny could feel the glamour beaming out of him as he passed by. _Oh, well. Not my problem._

“I’ve got to put this computer away.”

“I’ll go with you. I want to show you my car.” Ten got up quickly, then swayed on his feet as the cat jumped to his shoulder. “Oww. Claws, miss,” he warned as he reached up, helping to settle her.

“Should we leave him by himself? He’s wasted.” Johnny shook his head, looking at Jae.

“We won’t be long. Beth will take care of him.”

They walked out the door into the dimly lit parking lot. The silence was like a sound, ringing in Johnny’s ears. Flowers were blooming somewhere; the air smelled like elusive perfumes and he felt a strange sense of deja vu. He suddenly remembered being young, staying out late running from house to house with his friends, smelling this scent and feeling an unspeakable longing - not knowing the right words, but wishing long and hard...

The pavement was wet and shining. Their shoes made soft squelching sounds as they walked over the warm wet asphalt. Johnny stopped at his Jeep, stowed the computer and locked it up again.

Kaya lifted her head and scented the air, whiskers catching the light as they quivered. Ten turned his face to Johnny, eyes absorbing the darkness and his thin fingers catching in the other guy’s larger ones, skin warm like hot satin.

"Over here."

Johnny knew where the car was parked but he allowed Ten to pull him along, his mouth curling in an unconscious smile. The touch of those fingers gave him a light and bubbly feeling in his chest, almost a tickle, like he was balancing on the giddy edge of laughter.

"Here it is." Ten stopped them beside the red Porsche, smiling. The wind blew his dark locks, making him toss his head to keep them out of his eyes. His skin was cool and pale in the weak light, glowing like the moon. "It's a convertible. We can drive with the top down and watch the sunset with the breeze blowing."

Kaya jumped lightly to the hood of the car, padding up on the roof to stretch fore and aft, then sit with her tail wrapped around herself.

Johnny didn't question why this felt so absolutely right, standing with Ten's hand in his, smiling down at him. "I like it. It's a hot car." Ten laughed, his nose crinkling cutely, and Johnny wondered why he just took for granted that he'd be driving this car all summer. "So how do you just go and buy a car like this? It's expensive."

Ten shrugged, unconcerned. "American Express Black."

"Ah. Is your dad gonna be mad when he gets the bill?"

Ten tilted his head curiously, as if the idea had never occurred to him. "I don't see why he would be. He told me to get whatever I wanted. My father has plenty of money."

"Okay." Johnny grew up among rich kids, but this was at another level altogether. His eyebrow raised as a thought occurred to him. It was a strange dissonance in the song of Ten. "You know, you could have gone to college anywhere. It could have been Harvard or UCLA or somewhere even better. Your family obviously has the cash to make it happen."

Ten chucked but didn't deny it, black eyes softly shining.

"Why Wayne State? It's a secondary state college, smaller than MSU or U of M, only really well known for its med school. I just don't get why you decided to come here."

Ten slid his fingers over the back of Johnny's hand, a soft caress that made the other boy hungry for more than a innocent touch. Ten took a step closer. "I had to come here," His voice was low, almost a whisper, even though there didn't seem to be anyone around to overhear. "My father wanted me to stay near the curtain." Ten's dark eyes stared into Johnny's brown ones from just inches away. He looked at him as if they were sharing something, and Johnny should know what it was.

"The curtain?" What Ten said isn't make any sense. Maybe he was using the wrong word. "Do you mean the border? Like, with Canada?"

Ten looked taken aback, but then his eyes filled with amusement. "What do they teach you in wizard school, Johnny? Border with Canada!"

He put his hands on Ten's shoulders, happy for the excuse to do it, enjoying the feel of the resilient body under his fingertips, the warmth rising up though the thin black cotton of Ten's shirt. "Are you teasing me?"

"Why? Do you like it?" Ten was absolutely teasing him.

"What do you think?" John's voice had dropped, and the low tone made Ten quiver slightly under his hands. Johnny thought about what that shiver meant as breeze blew his hair, sending it into his eyes. Ten reached up and gently pushed it back, his warm fingertips caressing, his dark eyes gazing up as he let his hand come to rest against Johnny’s chest.

The intimacy of the moment sent a thrill along Johnny's nerves. Ten was so close, quiet under his hands; his eyes were dazzled with his starlight glow. Johnny’s hands tightened, drawing Ten closer as he stooped to press a kiss on those soft lips.

The door to the club banged open, letting out music and the sound of crashes and shrieks. Johnny’s lips pressed into silky black hair as Ten turned his head toward the noise. A guy ran out of the bar, shouting, “Fight!”

 

 

 

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

Taeyong was standing by the DJ station. His arms were crossed as he leaned back, feeling the vibration from the bass where his shoulders touched the wall and in the soles of his feet. His face was expressionless, but he was pleased at the reaction of the crowd to the new DJ. At least this one was on time, and actually seemed like he wanted a job; Ryan had always come to work with such reluctance. Johnny was interactive too, and handsome enough to turn heads, a show in himself. He knew how to bring the music, too; Johnny would be a great attraction.

Taeyong allowed a small smile to curve his lips. Yes, Johnny was a fine addition to the servants of this sweet dark temple.

He had just come down from the stairs when he felt a strange sensation, like warm breath on the back of his neck, tickling the short hairs there and giving him the shivers. Without any real volition, he felt himself move and follow that elusive tingle until he reached the door.

Ahh. Yuta.

Yuta was smiling and clapping the door bouncer on his huge shoulder, too busy to see Taeyong approach. His auburn hair was swept to the side of his forehead, and his dark eyes were sparkling with amusement, mouth curved in a gleeful smile. He looked healthy and well, even more robust than when he’d left; his skin had a rosy tone, and his eyes were bright and clear. He was a slim, athletic man, but he looked small and slight contrasted with the bouncer’s bulk. Who would think that Yuta could toss that man across the room without breaking a sweat?

Taeyong stared at him for a moment, his chest suddenly too small to encompass everything he was feeling, but then Yuta turned his head and looked straight at him. The older vampire’s eyes lit like dark candle flames, and his smile softened with affection.

Yuta hurried to where Taeyong stood. “Tae!” Yuta shouted, and threw his arms around the white haired man, making him stagger back a step with his enthusiasm. “I’m back! And the place hasn’t burned down, I’m so pleased!” and his laughter rang in Taeyong’s ears, a sound he hadn’t heard in too long.

“I’m glad you’re here.” Taeyong leaned against Yuta’s slim but solid form, his hands at the arch of the other man’s back. Sheltered in his eldest brother’s arms, breathing in his musky scent, Taeyong felt his body loosen and relax. Yuta was back, and now all the responsibility was back where it belonged. Taeyong pressed his face into Yuta’s cool hands, enjoying the feeling of his sweet caresses.

Then Holly was there, squirming her way in between them like she always did, small arms wrapping Yuta tight. Yuta smiled down as she tilted her face up to his. “Give me a kiss. I missed you.”

Yuta bent his head to oblige her, kissing her softly and stroking her inky fall of hair. “My little Holly berry. I forgot how beautiful you are.”

“Uh-uh! Mine!”

Taeyong smiled indulgently, holding Holly by the shoulders as Sicheng unceremoniously claimed Yuta. The Chinese boy pulled the eldest into a very unbrotherly embrace, followed by a straight up scandalous kiss.

Holly was giggling into her hands, leaning back against Taeyong as she watched the other two give greetings. The white haired man embraced her loosely, smiling over at the other two. It had been too long since they’d all been together. He felt a sharp and poignant sweetness spreading through his body, and recognized the emotion of happiness. “Those two. So shameless,” He murmured, warm breath brushing the top of Holly’s head.

Her hands circled his wrists lightly. “We were like that too.”

“Yes.” Taeyong smiled against her hair, remembering for a moment how that had been when he’d been reborn to his new life. Holly had been the wise and kindly older sister, but so tiny and exquisitely lovely, like a living doll. She fit perfectly under his arm, and he’d loved to put her on his lap for any reason, her physical smallness at such odds with her maturity and knowledge. She’d showed him how to live as a vampire, since Yuta always had his own concerns that he pursued outside their little family. She kept him safe, made him laugh, showed him how to both hunt the prey and care for them as well. She was perfect, a pretty little shepherdess that cared for her sheep. They spent their days hidden away, safe and secret, sleeping entwined in darkness like twins in the womb. They burst out in the nights to live wild and free hunting and playing, often with Yuta but always the two together, partners and friends.

Taeyong sighed, holding Holly tighter. When had things changed so much? Was it when Sicheng came, or even a little before? Holly became capricious and unpredictable, as if she were losing years instead of gaining them. Now it was him that watched her, that tried to keep her safe and out of trouble.

Now Yuta was laughing, protesting as Sicheng forced him onto the dance floor, almost lifting the elder off of his feet to have his way with him. Holly flitted out of Taeyong’s arms like petals blown on a dark wind. Alone, he stood quite still for a moment, watching the revelry around him. Was that it? Yuta was gone for a month, leaving Taeyong in charge of everything, and that’s all he had to say? A sharp pang of disappointment stabbed him. He felt like a rock, hard and stuck in place while life swirled all around him, leaving him behind. It felt queerly lonely to be like this.

He didn’t like it.

With a cold expression, he moved through the clustered groups of people toward the bar. Jae was also making his way back from the dance floor, having adroitly slipped out of the clutches of another dance partner. Taeyong watched the man make his way to his usual barstool, and followed very nearly in his footsteps, a few feet behind. A sudden smile curved his perfectly carven lips and showed the smallest sparkle of teeth between them.

Watching Jae was not satisfying anymore. The lonliness in Taeyong hungered for more, to talk to him and interact with him. It was the perfect opportunity when he came behind the bar and heard Elizabeth arguing with the boy.

“You’re drinking too fast. I can’t give you another one for at least an hour. How about a Coke?” The bartender tried to coax. “I can’t send you home to puke all over your parents couch.”

Jae leaned forward, arms crossed on the bar. “I’m not drunk!” He sounded insulted.

Before he could say any more, Taeyong caught Elizabeth’s attention with a fingertip touch on the wrist. “Take a fifteen minute break. I’ll cover for you.”

“Thanks, Tae.” Beth looked relieved. She turned quickly to exit the bar area.

Jae’s eyes followed her, and he would have kept watching if Taeyong hadn’t shoved a drink in front of him. Jae looked at it with surprise, then grinned a little. “Thanks.”

“I’ve seen you around here a lot lately,” Taeyong commented blandly. The DJ did something that made the people on the dance floor holler, and Taeyong cracked a smile.

“Yeah, I like it here.” Jae replied as he pulled the drink toward him. Taeyong served other customers, his hands sure and adroit as he mixed the drinks, watching as two girls approached Jae. They asked the young man to dance with them and he declined politely, his smile fading immediately as they left. He sat looking down into the depths of his drink as if it held some answers, his expression dark.

Strange, Jae hadn’t acted like this before. He’d always had a nice time flirting with the bartender. Taeyong’s sharp eyes spotted Beth in the crowd, talking with a tall man with broad shoulders and a charming smile. He had a certain stamp of features and a similar look to the man across from him; Taeyong wondered if they were related. The man leaned forward to say something in Beth’s ear, brushing her hair back, and her expression showed she was both thrilled and embarassed.

 _Oh._ Taeyong hid a knowing smile and made a show of wiping down the glasses.

Jae put his head on his hand, resting his elbow on the bar. “You know, its funny. I’ve met you a couple times here, and I keep getting the feeling you look familiar. I just can’t figure out where I’ve seen you.”

Taeyong froze for a moment, electrified, then resumed cleaning the glasses. He tried not to appear too eager. “Where could we have met?”

“Do you go to the university?”

“No. I just – work here.” Taeyong gazed at Jae, his deep set dark eyes glinting with unexplained humor. It felt odd to describe his role here as a job, when this place was just a lure to draw stupid sheep to the fold. Hot music. Cheap alcohol. Drugs and pretty people waiting with open arms and lips that offered sweet nepenthe. HQ was a dark and lovely sanctuary inviting worship, and he was one of its priests. Taeyong had to suppress a chuckle, amused at his own fancies. He was a priest that invited sheep to the back rooms, to the narrow beds, promising delights that would be impossible to remember.

Jae blinked back at Taeyong, as if he was seeing him for the first time. “Wow. You’re really handsome, you know? Are you a model? Have I seen you on TV or something?”

Taeyong had to laugh at this common line, but Jae was being sincere. It was cute. “No, nothing like that.”

“Oh.” The other guy seemed to deflate. He looked at his drink again, than looked over his shoulder. When he turned back his mouth was set in a grimace.

“You look like you aren’t having a lot of fun tonight.” Taeyong leaned on the bar, trying on a sympathetic smile. Up close like this, Jae looked just as good. “What’s the matter?”

Jae picked up the drink and tried to put the straw in his mouth; he missed, but then he found the right place. “I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?” Taeyong’s voice deepened to a purr. The vampire crossed his forarms on the bar, feeling his hunger catch at his gut as he looked at the other man. He wanted to know more about him, maybe become his friend, but he suddenly felt like he was starving. Jae was warm and looked _delicious_. His skin was so pale but rosy toned underneath, and the blood sung out to Taeyong, tempting him. “There are things you could try here. Things that will make you feel really good.” The hunger reached out, trying to catch at Jae and ensnare him, but somehow there was nowhere to grasp to entrance the younger man. Frustrated, Taeyong leaned his head on his fists and stared at the irritating, alluring man across from him.

“I know what will make me feel good, but I’m damned if I can get it.” Jae uttered a bitter laugh, alcohol and Taeyong’s persistence bringing up the truth. “You know, I tried really hard to make the damn girl like me, and it hasn’t been easy. I was kind. I was a goddamn gentleman.” Jae took another swig of his drink. “I was patient as fuck. She’s hot as hell but I never laid a hand on her, not once. And she's always looking at me like she doesn’t trust me and she's not really sure about it. She said that she doesn’t trust my type. But its really a lie. Hansol waltzes in and she's blushing and tongue tied and dropping things. And it's cute and he's _smiling_. And he's being _friendly_. And she’s actually going over to talk to his ass. What the fucking fuck is this anyway?"

“Who is Hansol?”

“That bastard is my cousin.” Jae grimaced.

“Do you even know her that well, to like her that much?” Taeyong had been watching Jae long enough to overhear him talking with Beth a few times. Though the younger guy was attentive, and Beth was friendly, he hadn’t seen any real passion between them.

“She’s a likeable person. I could see myself liking her more,” Jae replied cryptically.

Now Taeyong was curious, perhaps for personal reasons. “So, you don’t really like her? Do you actually have any feelings for this girl at all?”

Jae laughed, though it was hard-edged.  "It doesn't matter what I feel. I need her."

That wasn’t the answer Taeyong had expected. "Why do you need her?"

"For the whole life ahead of me. She’s the perfect one for me. If I brought _that_ girl home they'd have to choose me.”

"For what?"

"For everything that matters." Jae's eyes were oddly clear and lucid. “If I get that girl, I’ll get everything I want.”

Taeyong stared at Jae. Maybe it was his extra years, but he could clearly see how stupid the younger man was being. "Does that really seem like a good deal for the girl? When is she supposed to get what matters to her?"

Jae snorted, lifting his glass again.  "We can do that after."

Taeyong smiled slightly to himself, glancing at the table where the man was sitting close to Beth. "Maybe you should figure out an alternative plan.”

“You’re pretty sassy.” Jae looked like he might get mad, but ended up just shrugging his shoulders. “Another drink, please.”

The cat had been sitting quietly on the bar; now it turned its head and stared at Taeyong, green eyes glowing with a strange sense of menace. It stood up and paced slowly forward, radiating a palpable threat that made Taeyong straighten up and take a sudden step back. He wasn't sure what that thing was, but he was sure it wasn't really a cat.

The cat-boy appeared out of the crowd, sliding back into his seat with a breathy laugh. He was flushed with dancing, heat pinking his pale cheeks, and his shirt unbuttoned and hanging off his shoulders. He reached out a finger to tickle the creature on the bar. “Kaya, did you miss me?” He crooned, then turned his head to grin brightly at Jae, almost making Taeyong growl. “How about you, Jeffrey? Did you miss me terribly?”

“Haha. Save it for Johnny.” But Jae smiled, showing his dimples in Taeyong’s sight for the first time that night.

Yuta approached the bar from the same direction as the cat boy, his auburn hair mussed from dancing, his white shirt billowing out over his skinny jeans. He didn’t come around to the back of the bar, but reached out to tap the cat-boy on the shoulder. The boy swiveled in his seat to look up at the auburn-haired vampire, and Yuta bent to the cat-boy’s decorated ear, whispering something that made the boy sit quite still.

Taeyong stared uneasily and the cat watched too, shoulders humped and tense. Yuta usually didn’t pay much attention to the sheep, and rarely ever touched them; in fact, he seldom even made an appearance in the bar itself, mostly keeping to the back rooms where he and Sicheng lived. And now he was cuddling up to this cat boy, putting a hand on his shoulder, speaking to him?

Something odd was going on here. Taeyong narrowed his eyes to get a closer look at the boy, but Yuta caught his gaze and gave him a quick negative head shake. That head-shake meant ‘leave him alone’ or simply ‘mine’. The eldest vampire slid into the seat beside the boy, smiling at him. The boy returned the grin, and pointed to something on the dance floor, leaning towards Yuta as he spoke to him. The cat relaxed, head coming up and tail twitching.

A little disturbed by Yuta’s strange behavior, Taeyong gave his attention back to Jae. The tipsy guy began some rambling story about a basketball game, and his eyes became happy crescents. His smile was making Taeyong’s heart feel funny but in such a good way. This kid’s face was just so innocently and purely cute when he smiled. He felt slightly guilty for attempting to beguile Jae just moments earlier; the hunger was sometimes hard to control, and wanted what it wanted. It was actually a relief that it hadn’t worked.

_I can be a gentleman, too. I think…_

Taeyong didn’t even notice Holly until she was beside him, sliding a possessive arm around his waist and pulling his arm around her shoulders. “Who’s this?” She asked, her tone cold, but Jae was too drunk to notice and gave her a confused grin. Taeyong tried to suppress his sudden chill.

“Just a customer,”

“Hum. I think not.” Holly stared at Jae, and extended her pale hand. “Hello.”

Jae put his own out automatically, but he had nothing to shake because Taeyong had pulled Holly’s back. “What are you doing,” He hissed at her, low voiced.

She smirked, showing the slightest flash of canines. “Is he gonna be _yours_? Cause if not, I’ll take him.”

They exchanged a long look. Taeyong shook his head, and spoke in a soft, firm voice. “Mine then. Leave him alone.”

As if on cue, the chimes rang out. With a heated and lingering glance at Taeyong, Holly turned and left the bar area, going back out into the crowd. Jae grinned at him, oblivious. “Is that your girlfriend? She’s cute.”

“Yeah, she’s cute.” Taeyong stared after her, suddenly worried.

Johnny returned, and Yuta offered the tall guy a job. Taeyong watched his eldest brother carefully, wondering what he was up to. Hiring and firing had been Taeyong’s responsibility since the club opened. Why was Yuta jumping in to hire this guy? He was good, but not amazing or anything. It didn’t make any sense. The DJ took off with the boy and the (not) cat, promising to return for Jae, and Elizabeth came back to tend bar, releasing Taeyong.

He went among the people, the beat of the music somehow in rhythm with the pulses of his hunger as it spread out around him like a nimbus. People stared at him with dazed eyes as he brushed past, going into the furthest corner of the table area. Usually he indulged himself on nights like this, enjoying the time he shared with those that belonged to him – but tonight, he felt pressured to hurry. He wanted to talk to drunk Jae some more – someplace quiet and dark, away from the neon lights over the bar, away from Jae’s friends and his own beloved family. Yes. He wanted to see Jae in a quieter, darker place with his own hunger tamed from a voracious beast to a sleepy purring thing. With the hunger soft and gentled down, he could talk to Jae, and even touch him.

He slid into the seat next to his pet. He reached out to stroke her hair, watching her eyes dazzle as she stared at his face. “Phuong.”

“Taeyong.” She whispered back, and smiled.

They had almost made it to the back room when a series of loud crashes and shrieks made Taeyong whirl. He ran toward the bar, pushing people out of his way, just in time to see Jae throw his cousin ten feet across the room into a table. The table turned on its side, screeching across the floor, sending the man to the ground where he quickly rolled to his feet. He ducked under Jae’s swing and threw a shoulder into his gut. They careened back toward the bar, crashing over some chairs along the way. Jae howled furiously, somehow still able to control his body after the amount of alcohol he had consumed, and his fist connected to Hansol’s chin in an uppercut.

Taeyong didn’t hesitate but thrust himself between them, pushing Hansol back off Jae and into Yuta's arms. Yuta easily got the taller guy into an armlock, pushing him down on his knees like he was a little kid. Taeyong shoved Jae back against the wall, hands trapping his wrists. The younger guy heaved, trying to get loose. His strength was impressive, but not enough to move the vampire. “Stupid kid, what are you doing,” Taeyong huffed, the entire length of his body pressed tight against Jae’s.

“That bastard –“ Jae panted. His heart was pounding. It pounded in Taeyong’s ears, drowning out the sound of the music. All he could hear were those rapid low drumbeats, a siren song. “He insulted me, right in front of Beth. Let me go, you fucker.”

“No, I can’t do that.” Taeyong leaned closer, the tip of his nose just brushing Jae’s throbbing carotid artery. He felt like he was drunk with the feel of the body struggling against his, the blood scent in his nostrils, his hunger swirling everywhere. “You’ll just go for him again.”

“I won’t,” Jae protested.

“Liar.” Taeyong licked his lips and pressed them against Jae’s throat.

Jae jolted in surprise. “What the hell are you doing?”

“It doesn’t matter. You wont remember.” He smiled as lifted his head. “Need some more?” He kissed the other man full on the mouth. His moist lips stuck to Jae’s, clinging so delightfully for one second, two, until the white haired man pulled back. Jae’s heart rate was slowing, already responding to the strong sedatives in the vampire's saliva. Taeyong released Jae’s wrists carefully, and when he made no violent moves, he stepped away from his body. He didn’t really want to; the heat rising off of the other man’s skin was intoxicatingly warm.

When Taeyong turned around he saw Johnny and the cat-boy, both watching him wide-eyed. “Are you going to take this guy home?”

“Um- yes.” Johnny answered, flustered.

“Tell him he can come back if he wants. But he can’t drink here any more.” Taeyong pulled a dazed Jae off the wall, handling the solid man as lightly as if he were a child. “Go home.”

Jae turned his head around to stare at Taeyong, even as his two friends grabbed his arms to get him out. Hansol was nowhere in sight; Yuta would have certainly escorted him off the premises. With a smug and secret smile, Taeyong touched his lips. Jae had tasted very nice.

He quickly turned to finish the night’s work, finding Phuong still waiting for him near the doorway to the back. His hunger was raging now, and it wouldn’t be denied. He took her hand and pulled her roughly through the door behind him.


	12. Chapter 12

The man was dead; his long limbs were flaccid, tattoos dark, swirling in primitive designs on the greying skin of his shoulders. His eyes were half open, and so was his mouth, jaw hanging slack and vacant. Strips of narrow cuts marred his naked torso, and blood had darkened to maroon, striping his body. The music from the club pounded through the walls and rang dully in Taeyong’s ears as he stared at the lifeless body. The red-shaded lamps on the end tables lit the room with sullen light, and the iron smell of old blood made him wrinkle his nose in distaste. He dropped the filmy draperies and they fell back into place around the bed with a soft whisper. His eyes darkened with displeasure as he rounded on the person behind him. “Goddamn it Holly. What did you do?”

“I’m sorry.” She clenched her hands together in front of her, dropping guilty eyes. Burgundy smeared her chin and sprayed artistically here and there on her tight white dress. “I didn’t mean for it to go this far.”

Sicheng lifted himself up from where he leaned against the wall, arms crossed. He made a disgusted hiss, pretty face contorted. “I’m sick of cleaning up your messes. You’re so damn selfish and lazy, and its going to ruin everything! We only sip goddamn it, we don’t take it all. It keeps them coming back, instead of running away! Fucking Holly!” He gave her an angry push.

Her back hit the bedpost and she broke down bawling, an ugly cry that made her sound like a lost child. She scrubbed her hands against her bloodstained face.

Taeyong threw a slashing glare at the younger man, his own ire rising. “You can’t push her like that. Come here, Holly.” Taeyong held out his arms and Holly went into them, her body hitting him with a thump. He held her, never minding her dirty condition, and he felt her tears wetting his shirt.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t control it.” Holly whimpered, and his heart hurt with the pain in her voice. “I’d never do anything to hurt my family. Don’t tell Yuta. He’ll be so mad. So mad.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.” He stroked her back comfortingly. “I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re my beloved sister.”

“Speak for yourself.” Sicheng’s normally gentle smile was hard edged. “I’m done hiding her shit from Yuta.”

“You can’t tell him!” Taeyong replied urgently.

“Why? Don’t you think he has the right to know what’s going on here? Unless its worth my time.” Sicheng sent Holly a predatory look. He licked his full lips. “If you want us to dispose of this trash on the bed – maybe you’d like to share, hmm? I haven’t had my fill yet tonight. You must have taken more than enough.” Sicheng came closer, reached a hand out to pet Holly’s hair.

She shifted away, hiding her face in Taeyong’s chest. “No!”

“Fine.” Sicheng snatched his hand back, sullen anger making his eyes glow. “I’ll be spending my night getting fed, like always.” The younger man’s face was set, his full lips pressed together. He met Taeyong’s glare with a pitying look. “How useless. Just how long are you going to cover for her, brother?”

“As long as I have to,” Taeyong replied hotly, feeling Holly shudder and grip him tighter. Sicheng shook his head, and slammed out of the room without another word.

Holly clutched him and didn’t let him go. Taeyong held her like a wild thing that would take fright and flit away, carefully, tenderly. He felt a strange thick sensation in his throat and it reminded him of tears. He pressed his lips to the glossy dark hair on the top of her head, feeling her body move as she breathed and whispered “Sorry” and “I love you.” His eyes burned and his chest was tight, but he managed to calm himself and set her aside.

“Lets take care of this.”

They wrapped the man in the stained bedsheets, and then again in the fluffy red rug on the floor of Holly’s room. Clothes served as stuffing in either end of the roll to hide him from sight. Taeyong placed the rug in his car, which was parked just behind the back door. Holly ran singing through the parking lot, cleaned up and in a yellow dress, attracting every eye so nobody paid attention to what Taeyong was doing in the shadows. It wasn’t like this was the first time an accident had happened. They knew what to do.

She came back to the rear of the building after causing her small commotion. Taeyong was leaning against the hood of his car, lean body all in black, pulling a dark cap down over his hair. “I’m going to take care of this. You keep Yuta busy, however you can do it.”

She took a few light steps to lean against the car beside him. She bit her lip, eyes big with darkness, her small hands clenched in his shirt. “You are such a good brother to me, Taeyong.”

With a sigh, he hugged her close. He inhaled the scent of her hair. “You can’t do this again.”

“I know. I’ll stop with the games for a while. I’ll make this up to you, I promise.” She looked up into his eyes. “I love you, more than anyone. More than Sicheng. More than Yuta. You’re the only one I love.”

He chuckled, but the words flooded his heart with sweetness. He bent down to brush her lips with his. “Okay. I’m going to go. You’re going to take care of Yuta?”

“He’ll be so distracted, he’ll never know what hit him,” she replied confidently. “Leave it to me.”

The headlights briefly flashed over her body as he reversed, a small girl in a yellow sundress, hair hanging long against her shoulders, eyes full of night.

Taeyong stopped his car beside a vacant lot surrounded by garbage. He balanced the rug on his shoulder as he made his way through undergrowth full of pricker bushes and poison ivy, then dropped it with a thud in a clearing filled with grasses and wild raspberry vines. Trees overhung the place, and vines dripped down from them, swaying as the night winds blew bringing with it the scent of flowers.

The handle of the shovel was rough in his hand as he began to dig. It started to rain again, soft sprinkles that were only a mist around him. An owl hooted somewhere, and small things made sounds in the brush as the hole grew deeper.

As his body worked, Taeyong’s mind wandered to a place he didn’t want it to go. He didn’t want to remember going to Yuta’s room as he was packing to leave for Japan, sitting on his elder brother’s low platform bed as he meticulously folded clothes and put them in his suitcase.

“I’ve lived through a lot of fashion trends. But skinny jeans?” Yuta looked in amazement at the offending item, then packed it away.

Taeyong smiled, secretly feeling the same about skinny jeans.

“Taeyong, you’re in charge while I’m away, of course. And I’ll be gone for a while this time, at least a month. There is a new head of the Nakamoto clan and there are a lot of legal documents that have to be written and signed while I’m there. You already have control of the accounts for the club, but I’ll leave you my card and papers for one of my personal accounts as well. In case the club burns down or something.”

“Okay.” Taeyong leaned back on his hands, crossing his legs. “I’ll take care of everything. You don’t have to worry.”

“Sicheng might want to break the rules, but he’ll follow your lead.” Yuta’s face softened at the mention of the youngest brother. “Don’t let him get away with anything.”

“I won’t.” Taeyong noticed the expression on Yuta’s face, feeling a momentary pang of jealousy. “I think he’s still upset that he’s being left behind."

“Ah, I know. But one visitor in Tokyo is enough – two is pushing some people we should not push,” Yuta murmured, and Taeyong nodded in understanding. The Tokyo vampires were powerful and clannish, and didn’t welcome outside hunters. “I have to kiss enough ass just to visit my own family without bringing an excitable kid along.”

“He’ll miss you, though.”

Yuta turned, his glance sharp enough to cut. He caught Taeyong’s chin in his hand, raising his face. “Won’t you miss me, my darling?”

Suddenly flustered, Taeyong searched for something to say. Finally, he just said, “Yes, I’ll miss you.”

With a sly laugh, Yuta let him go and sat on the bed beside him. The bedspread was deep blue satin, hand-embroidered with white cranes. Yuta had once told him it had been done by the women of his family more than a hundred years ago; the item was priceless. “Will Holly miss me, I wonder?” Yuta’s voice was playful, but the look in his eyes was dark. “Are you still close to Holly, Taeyong?”

“Of course.”

“She doesn’t talk to me. Except for the nightly visits, she doesn’t see me.” Yuta’s eyes locked on to Taeyong’s. “Does she still love you like she used to?”

“Yes,” Taeyong answered cautiously, wondering what these questions meant. It was never a good idea to tell Yuta too much, so he measured his words. “We live together in the old brick house. We play together. Nothing has changed.”

Yuta reached out and fluffed Taeyong’s hair. His tone was a caress. “Loyal. If something was wrong, would you tell me?”

“Of course.” It was easy to say it, even though it was a lie. He’d been hiding things for a while now. The bank account with his own money in it. The identity documents he had purchased on the black market. The body of the woman Holly had killed at the casino a month ago. “I tell you everything.”

“Hmm.” Yuta’s lips curved in a smirk. He lowered his eyes and his lashes fluttered, long and dark, against the soft curve of his cheek. “Lets pretend that’s true.”

Taeyong drew in a breath, a feeling of dread tickling at his chest.

Yuta picked Taeyong’s slender hand up off the satin comforter, caressing his fingers between his own. “I want to tell you something before I go, because you’re old enough to know now. And you’re old enough to be responsible for more than just running the bar.” Gently, Yuta raised Taeyong’s hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. “This is the story of the first sister I ever made. Did you know that I hunted alone for the first hundred years I was a vampire?  I loved my pets – but their memories began to overwhelm me. Each time I took the blood I also took a piece of their lives, as if the blood served me a slice of the soul. My head was bursting with them, until I hardly knew which memories were mine and which were theirs.” He laughed, low in his throat. “Of course, childbirth – I knew I hadn’t done that. But I couldn’t stand it anymore, and that’s when I made my first younger sister. I was living in Morocco then, and she was beaten and left to die on the streets. I didn’t want to make others like me, but she begged me for her life. So I gave it. And saving her saved me, because I wasn’t able to go on like that for much longer. I think those false memories would have driven me mad. She wasn’t afflicted with memories, just like you are not. She shared every feast with me without holding back, because she loved me very much.”

The faintly musky perfume of Yuta was in Taeyong’s nostrils. “I love you.”

“I wonder sometimes. You never tell me what you think, and I’ve never been able to touch your mind. Not since I made you my little brother.” Yuta stroked Taeyongs palm with his fingers. “But let me finish. Buchra was beside me for a long time. I was very happy I didn't have to touch humans anymore, since she hunted for both of us. She was lovely, with skin like honey and big bright eyes, even in the moonlight. She had a fly sense of humor and was the kindest person I've ever met. She wasn't educated, but I taught her to read and write. In many ways she was like my child. We spent decades in Morocco and for us, it was paradise. We never saw the sun, but its heat would linger on the tiled doorways and frescos, and the cobbled streets would warm our feet.” Yuta’s eyes were distant, seeing sights that were long gone. “But after years, I wanted something different. I wanted to leave, but she wanted to stay. So I left her there, and I found a new companion when I went to Greece.”

“You never spoke about any others.” Taeyong remarked blandly. Yuta wasn’t making conversation; this was leading up to something, and he would have to be patient and wait for the denouement.

“I know I never spoke of this before, but this is the right time to tell you.” Yuta sighed, shifting his weight. “I was in Greece when I heard the rumors of some beast plaguing the villages around Morocco. There were tales of a creature that stole farmers from their beds, infants from their cradles, drained the blood and tore them limb from limb. A great and terrible beast, that took the form of a woman.” Yuta stared at the wall, rubbing his lower lip with his thumb in a slow, monotonous rhythm. “So I went there, and I found Buchra. But she wasn’t the person I remembered. She’d turned feral, totally ruled by the hunger, with barely any volition left. I kept her a while, tied her up and fed her, trying to figure out what to do. I wrote letters to those that were elder than I. They replied that there was nothing to do but put her out of her misery. So, I did that.”

Yuta’s brooding face hinted at a much deeper story, but Taeyong wasn’t sure he even wanted to know. A chill chased itself through his body. “You killed her?” He asked, low voiced, coldness settling in his stomach.

“There was no saving her. There was nothing left of _her._ So that beast – yes. I killed it.” Yuta pressed his lips thin. “I was not expecting that. I didn't understand because I was born like this. I was a normal child until I reached my full growth, and that’s when I slowly changed and became a vampire. I sense thoughts, and my brain will remain essentially the same until I’m killed. You, and those like you...”

“Those like me? Ones that were once human?” Taeyong’s tone was sharp. He felt the loss of something, although he had never been promised hundreds of years. He had just assumed it would be like that, that he would live for centuries, as Yuta did.

Yuta nodded, his auburn hair falling in his eyes. “Humans don’t last forever. The power of the vampire blood keeps your body strong, and it doesn’t age, but the brain doesn’t last. The cerebral cortex breaks down over time, and functions are taken over by the limbic system, which is the most primal and primitive part.”

There was silence for a moment. “How do you know that?”

“I studied it, for many years. Humans live long as vampires but not much longer than the natural span of human life. And when the mind starts to break down, the hunger takes over, until nothing is left but hunger. The control is gone, and the vampire becomes a monster.”

A shudder traced itself over Taeyong’s skin. So this was what lay behind the mystery of Yuta’s long life. He could remember how many times he’d tried to ask, and Yuta would evade the question or just refuse to answer. Yuta was one kind of vampire, and the rest of them another. A very temporary kind. The kind that Yuta put down when necessary.

_Will we all end up like that? Will he kill us all one day?_

Yuta was touching him, and Taeyong stiffened under his hands, but was afraid to push him away. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Do you really not know?” The sympathy in Yuta’s gaze made Taeyong lower his eyes.

“I don’t know anything.”

“All right, Taeyong. Whatever comes of it – you can’t claim ignorance now.”

 

Taeyong dropped the rug into the hole, and covered it up again with dirt, pulling some raspberry plants and grasses over it to make it look wild and untouched. He spared a moment’s thought for the dead man, but he couldn’t spare more than that. He still had the rest of the night’s work ahead of him. He slipped back out of the dark thicket, carrying his shovel, and got back in his car. His shoes were covered in mud and he was dirtier than he remembered being in a long time.

He stopped at his house to shower before returning to HQ. He knew that he would be expected, even though it was now after closing time.

It was very late when Taeyong returned to the bar. Insects trilled and buzzed in the bushes, tickling his ears as he strode toward the door in the back. The parking lot lights were dim, shadowing the cracks in the empty expanse of asphalt. His steps hesitated as the door opened and he saw Yuta silhouetted against the warm lighted glow inside the building. The Japanese man leaned against the door jamb, hips tilted, arms crossed. Yuta’s eyes caught light from somewhere, or maybe it was his own internal light; either way his eyes lit like twin stars. “You’re so late. I was wondering if you were even coming.”

“Of course I would.” Daring, Taeyong reached out to cup the other man’s smooth cheek, and Yuta leaned smiling into the touch, his skin warm against Taeyong’s coolness. “I wanted to be last.”

“Ah.” Seemingly satisfied, Yuta caught Taeyong’s hand, drawing him inside and shutting the door behind them. His gaze was hungry, even though Holly and Sicheng had already been with him that night, to share what they had taken. “Come with me.”

Taeyong walked the familiar hall, following the auburn haired man into his room. It was all just as the elder brother had left it, the low flat bed, abstract paintings mixed with photos of his Japanese family on the walls, the bookcase full of mangas. His open suitcase was on his dresser, spilling out clothes and mementos of his visit home. Taeyong felt the sting of regret as he gazed into Yuta’s smile and watched it fade as the door shut behind them.

“Before we get started... did anything happen while I was gone?” Yuta raised a curious eyebrow.

Taeyong felt his heart pound. “The dj quit. But we have a new one already, so no harm done.”

Yuta tilted his head, wearing a sly smile. “He’s a wizard. Did you know? I could feel it when I shook his hand.”

“I - didn’t know.” Taeyong bit his lip. From his experience, wizards were a pain in the ass. “Do you want me to let him go? He’s Beth’s friend, and he was coming around before tonight. Even if I fire him there’s no guarantee he’ll go away.”

“No don’t fire him.” Yuta gave the white haired man a measuring look, as if he were trying to decide about something. “He can work for us – as long as he wants.” Yuta narrowed his eyes, the weight of his gaze coming down fully on Taeyong. “I know you saw Ten, the boy with the cat. Didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did,” Taeyong replied cautiously. “You touched him. Why? You never touch humans.”

“Ugh, you know why I hate to touch them. So many impressions. Their thoughts. Their feelings. But that one…" a wry smile played around Yuta's mouth. "...give him anything he wants. If there’s something he wants that you can’t provide come get me. Otherwise, leave him alone and make sure the others do, too. I already warned Sicheng off, and I told Holly as well. He’s not for you to play with or seduce or even talk to. Let the staff take care of anything he needs, and stay away from him.”

Taeyong frowned. Yuta seldom made decrees like this. It almost sounded like he was trying to protect his younger sibs, not the boy in question “Why?”

“Ahhh. Let’s just say that I know his father and some of his siblings. We don’t want to be in their business, or have them in ours. So please treat him well, and anybody that he brings with him too.”

“Sure, if you say so.”

Yuta smiled. “You’ve always been so obedient. Such a good brother. Have I told you how grateful I am to have you here? I know I can trust you to take care of everything while I am gone. I know you will protect this place, and your siblings.” Yuta ran a hand through his soft white hair, then tugged it roughly, making a jolt of pain go through Taeyong’s skull. “You wouldn’t let anyone hurt our pets, would you?”

A feeling of trepidation lodged itself in his gut when he met Yuta’s knowing eyes. “I do my best to keep everything safe. It may not be enough but I give all I have to give.”

“So self deprecating.” Yuta sent Taeyong a slashing glance, and moved toward him. Automatically, Taeyong withdrew until the bed hit the back of his knees. Yuta pressed Taeyong down into the bed and the white haired man let himself be settled there by the elder’s expert hands, enduring that heated touch again, pressing dents into his skin. Yuta crawled over the younger man, his nose brushing his neck as he breathed in.

Taeyong stared at the ceiling, eyes tracing the designs of the tin tiles painted white, feeling the long, slow beat of his heart. The skin of his neck prickled with anticipation.

Yuta raised his head, looking down into Taeyong’s eyes from just inches away. His auburn hair framed his breathtakingly handsome face. Tae had been looking at that face for twenty years now, and he still was a little in awe of it. He lifted up on his elbow, hip leaning against Taeyong’s stomach. “Are you getting tired of this, my little brother?” He asked slowly.

Taeyong hadn’t expected that comment. “What?”

Yuta’s hand slid under the hem of his shirt, tracing up his flank. The touch was slightly warm and smooth, as if fingers of sun-warmed marble were caressing his skin. “Are you tired of doing this for me? Are you tired of sharing? I wonder if you like it when I’m gone.” Yuta showed his sharp inscisors when he smiled, the points razor sharp. “Do you still want to be with me, or do you want to go your own way? Do you want to tell me goodbye?” Yuta’s hand spread out on the younger man’s abdomen, and he sucked in his stomach reflexively at the touch.

Taeyong let his breath out in a huff. “Why are you even asking me this?”

“Its something in your eyes.” Yuta’s finger traced his white eyebrows, the long nail scraping along his eyelids. "Reluctance? Secrets?"

Taeyong tried not to flinch. “You’re wrong. I don’t want to leave you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” _Maybe._

“Good.” Yuta didn’t smile.

Taeyong looked away, exposing his throat. “It’s getting late. Just do it.”

“If you request.” Yuta purred. His head moved slowly toward Taeyong’s neck. The white haired man felt his body tense in anticipation as a wet tongue slid along his skin, playing at preparing the site. He’d done this countless times, but his body jerked as those sharp incisors crunched through his skin, bringing with it a blooming flower of pain. His breath escaped him in a gasp.

With a soft moan through his nose, Yuta sealed his lips tight on Taeyong’s neck. One of Yuta’s hands was on the back of his head, the other curving around his body to press him close. Taeyong closed his eyes, fisting his hands in Yuta’s shirt, letting himself float on the strange euphoria that came with Yuta’s kiss. He knew he would be left dry and aching after, so he just let the bliss devour his body as he was held fast in the cage of Yuta’s arms.

 

 

 

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

The rumbling of the air conditioner was a soothing background noise as Johnny opened one gummy eye. He was sprawled over the bed, face mostly buried in his pillow. His body was comfortable and relaxed, limbs loose with sleepy lassitude. The sheet had slipped off him until only his torso was covered. His long bare legs were warmed by the sun streaming through the window, and cooled by the air blowing out of the window air conditioner; it was a happy medium, and he didn’t want to move.

Soft snores beside him were almost buried in the background noise. Ten slept curled up small, dark locks mussed over his forehead, sheets gathered up under his chin. _Cute_ , Johnny thought, blinking sleepy eyes, the corners of his mouth curving up. He settled himself more comfortably, head resting on his crossed bare arms.

Sunshine striped across the bed, dust motes sparkling in the pathway of focused light. The black cat drowsed on the window sill, the bright sunlight revealing a hidden tiger pattern in her dark fur. Johnny stayed quiet, eyes slitted to the light, not really thinking about anything but happy to be where he was. Ten shifted in his sleep, the sheet sliding down his neck as he turned his head.

This would be easy to get used to, Johnny thought, his eyes lazily tracing Ten's delicate features, the fair skin his neck. It would be nice to wake up every morning with this person here, this cat on the windowsill, this sunshine across the bed. 

Ten’s eyelids twitched, and slowly opened. He blinked at Johnny, dark eyes made amber with the light, and smiled sleepily. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Johnny returned the smile. “Did you sleep well.”

Ten made an affirmative noise, raising his arms in a relaxed stretch.

“Want some breakfast?”

“Sure.”

Johnny made a plateful of pancakes while Ten showered. The smaller man came to the table in the t-shirt and shorts Johnny lent him, looking lost in the expanse of cloth. “Your clothes are too big for me,” Ten laughed, sitting at the rickety table as Johnny poured his coffee. "But you're not wearing hardly anything. Are you always like this?."

“Yeah, I usually just hang out in boxers at home.” Johnny didn't miss how Ten stared at his upper body as he brought the cups to the table, setting one in front of each place. “Do you want any milk with that?”

“Um. No?” Ten blinked and pinked a little at the cheeks. “Thanks.”

Johnny sat in the other chair, and watched as Ten pulled pancakes onto his plate with hungry determination. He poured the syrup, then gazed at Johnny with a sad face. “Is this all you’ve got?”

The refrigerator was full of cakes at Ten’s place; he probably had something more than an average sweet tooth. “Uh- lets see.” Johnny looked in his own fridge for something sugary. It had been a while since he’d gone to the market, but he still had some reddi-whip in the side of the refrigerator. “Here.” He pulled out the can and handed it to Ten. “Go crazy.”

Ten squirted the whip cream on his pancakes, and then some straight into his mouth. He giggled as he licked his lips clean of the white foam. “Yum.”

Johnny was amused. “I’ve never seen anyone who loves sugar as much as you. I’m surprised you don’t have a mouth full of cavities.”

“I don’t have any.” Ten showed off his white grin. “More butter?”

“Have as much as you want.”

Ten cut the butter and slid it between his pancakes. Kaya was in the corner, having already finished her bowl of left-over hamburger; she was lazily grooming her fur, paying no attention to the two at the table.

“Your pancakes are delicious, Johnny. You have to show me how you make them.’ Ten enthused.

“Ok, I will. Next time you can make pancakes for me.” Johnny pictured Ten nude in a flowered apron and tried not to grin. _Stop,_ he told himself.

“Sure. I’ve always wanted to learn how to cook.” Ten agreed readily, ignoring Johnny’s peculiar chuckle.

The first-floor door squeaked as it opened and shut, and loud footsteps began to stomp up the steps. Ten sat up in surprise, but relaxed at Johnny’s nonchalant shrug.

There was only one person with a spare key to the place. Sure enough, Taeil came through the door to the kitchen, with two large supermarket bags in his hands. He stopped short at the sight in front of him; Johnny lounging at the kitchen table in nothing but boxers, and an attractive stranger covered in yards of excess cloth, mouth dribbled with whip cream. His eyes widened as he stared back and forth between them, clearly getting the wrong idea.

“Hi! I’m Ten!” The dark-haired boy waved an enthusiastic greeting.

“I’m Taeil, nice to meet you. Um. Am I interrupting?”

Johnny really wanted to say yes, just because the med student’s habit of just showing up at his place was so annoying, but Ten spoke before he could say anything.

“We were having breakfast. Johnny’s pancakes are the best! You should have some.”

Taeil smiled at Ten’s effusive friendliness, and smiled wider as he noted Johnny’s cooler expression. “Okay, I will. Just let me put these groceries away.”

“Why are you bringing me groceries, anyway?” Johnny watched his friend open his nearly empty fridge.

“Your mom called my mom who “suggested” that I check in on you and make sure you aren’t starving to death, or drunk 24/7.” Taeil set the bags on the kitchen counter, doing a double take as the cat jumped up beside the bags and sat there looking at him, black tail twitching. “You got a pet?”

“She’s Ten’s.”

“Oh. Well, I got you mostly snacks, by the way. I didn’t know you could cook.”

“Well, thanks for that I guess,” Johnny replied with poor grace. He hadn’t called home in about a week, probably. Now he was feeling guilty.

After stowing the bags of food away, Taeil grabbed a plate from the cupboard and joined them. He served himself from the pile of pancakes in the middle of the table. “Sorry I haven’t been able to see you lately, but I guess you’ve made a new friend.” Taeil looked blandly from Ten to Johnny.

The side of Johnny’s mouth quirked up. Taeil could think what he wanted to, and Johnny rather wished that it was the truth. It had been so late last night and Jae had been so sleepy Ten had followed Johnny home to help him get the drunk guy back in his house. The two of them had to literally carry him inside, and it only got worse when Hansol was the one who had to open the door. the tall guy was sporting a red mark on his chin and didn't offer to help them bring Jae in and get him settled on the couch. Jae was snoring loudly by the time they left.They were both too tired, so Johnny had told Ten to just stay the night. They would have to sleep in Johnny’s room, though – it was the only one with air conditioning.

“Its ok. Most people want sex when they ask you to sleep with them, but I know I don’t have to worry about that with you.” Ten had given him a trusting smile as he followed him to the bedroom. He quickly stripped off his long sleeve shirt and jeans, and crawled into the left side of the bed in his tank top and black boxers.

Johnny was left feeling annoyed. He hadn’t really planned on doing anything, but still… When he shut out the light and got under the covers, he could see Ten’s eyes glinting at him in the near darkness. Was that sparkle amusement? He wasn’t sure.

“I go to the University with Johnny,” Ten was telling Taeil. “We are both in the same club at school.”

“You’re in a club?” Taeil looked at Johnny, raising a surprised eyebrow. “I’m glad. You were in a bit of a slump at the beginning of the semester, but now you seem ok.”

“Johnny is working at a bar as a DJ now, too!” Ten seemed proud to tell Taeil of Johnny’s doings. “He is teaching me English and also trying to teach me ma…”

“- enough about me,” Johnny interrupted, giving Ten a look meant to quell him. The boy just returned the look curiously, tilting his head. “What have you been up to, Taeil?”

The med student smiled, munching on pancakes. “I’m more curious about you and Ten.”

Johnny shrugged. “Nothing to see here. Just had a late night and decided to crash at my place.”

“Our friend got drunk and fought with his cousin in the bar.” Ten told Taeil, chortling. “Ohh. You should have seen Johnny’s face. He was so surprised.” But as Ten glanced at Johnny, his expression changed as amusement warmed to a kind of banked heat.

Johnny returned the look, remembering how he shoved Ten behind him when the two shifters went careening by. Ten had given him that same heated look once the two combatants had been handled, and Johnny still wondered what it meant.

Taeil smirked and looked at his plate, spearing at least 5 pieces of pancake on his fork. “I’m surprised you’re just friends. You are really this guy’s type.”

Johnny laughed in embarrassment. “Could you not?”

Ten looked intrigued. “I am?”

Johnny was saved from more awful conversation by a knock on the door. It was Renjun and Jaemin, whom Johnny often thought of as ‘evil twins’ since they’d spent one evening chasing each other over his Jeep while in wolf form. “Hey. What do you guys want?”

If they were surprised to see Johnny in his underwear, they didn’t show it. “Hey! We’re trying to put a baseball game together.” Renjun told him.

“You want to come play?” Jaemin added eagerly.

Johnny squinted up at the sky. It was that bright, deep blue that only was seen in high summer, with large white clouds blowing lazily over the sun, sending shadows over the ground. Though it was warm, there was no trace of humidity in the air. It felt like the perfect day to be outside. “I’d like to, but I’ve got guests over.”

“They can play too,” Jaemin coaxed.

“Ok, I’ll ask. Come on.”

The boys trouped up the steps after him, looking at Taeil and Ten with curious bright eyes. “You guys up for a game? These kids want to play baseball across the street.

Taeil looked tempted. “I should go study.”

“Ugh, you are as pale as a ghost and you look like you are gonna die. Get some sun for an hour,” Johnny challenged. “Besides, these kids’ uncle is a really good pitcher.”

“Hansol's my brother,” Jaemin grinned.

“Yeah, I don’t think you’re up to his standards, Taeil. You’d better not even try, so you don’t embarrass yourself…”

Taeil groaned. “Johnny, please. Don’t try to use psychology on me, you are just embarassing yourself. But I guess I can play for an hour.”

“How about you?” Renjun asked Ten.

“I’d like to try, but I’ve never played that sport.” Ten put his head on his knitted fingers, eyes jewel-bright. “I don’t know how.”

The boys looked shocked. “But you’ve watched it played, right?”

“Never. But, Johnny will show me,” Ten assured them, supremely confident in Johnny’s teaching skills.

Johnny just let himself grin. “Ok, if you want.”

Taeil threw him a look. “This is going to be interesting.”

Ten put his own jeans back on, because Johnny’s shorts kept falling off, and the three went across the street to join the game. Most of the Jung kids were playing, plus some other kids from down the street. Jae was even there, looking hardly worse for tying one on hard the night before. Hansol was cool and collected as always. The two ignored each other, not even engaging in the friendly rivalry they’d had before, which to Johnny seemed more worrisome than open sniping.

He took Ten aside with a bat and a glove, explaining the basics of the game and showing Ten how to catch the ball and how to swing the bat. It was a nice moment fit for a romcom when Johnny stood behind Ten, body pressed close, showing him how to swing the bat with hands overlapping. Johnny didn’t know whether to be pleased or disappointed when Ten picked up the basics fairly easily. He did catch the softball once with his bare hand, then hopped around shaking the hand and hollering swearwords in Thai. Johnny tried not to fall to the ground laughing but failed sadly.

Ten was placed in the outfield, with Johnny at first and Taeil pitching. Ten could catch the ball, but never failed to throw it to the wrong base. He would stagger around, hiding his embarrassed laughter behind his hands when everyone on his team would put up a collective groan.

It was so cute. Johnny would watch him play baseball all damn day.

After an hour, Taeil had to go. He left with a wave and an expression promising a phone call later. Johnny and Ten were drinking water bottles from a cooler provided by one of the older women in Jae’s family. They set them down in the grass, and johnny noted streaks of red on Ten’s bottle.

“Hey. Let me see your hands.”

Ten looked at his palms, then held them out to the older man. “My hands hurt.” He sounded surprised.

The rough handles of the bats had been slightly uncomfortable for Johnny, but his callouses had protected his skin from damage. Ten’s hands were torn and bleeding in several places.

“What the hell. Why didn’t you say something?” Johnny cradled Ten’s hands in his larger ones, turning them to survey the damage.

“I guess I didn’t really notice.” Ten seemed startled.

Ten’s skin was soft, his palms and fingers strangely uncreased, as if he had never held a tool or done a day’s work in his life. The Thai boy’s soft skin and delicate bones were such a contrast to Johnny’s own calloused and strong-boned ones. Johnny’s forarms were glistening with a thin sheen of sweat, but Ten’s pale skin was warm and dry.

Johnny’s eyes flicked to the people around them. The shifter boys were red faced and panting, and the back of Hansol’s cap was darkened with sweat. Jae’s hair was wet on the sides, and the other kids were also wiping perspiration off their faces or pouring water on their heads. Johnny’s own shirt was sticking to his back.

Ten was as dry as if he had been sitting in an air conditioned room instead of running around outside on an 80 degree day, and in black jeans even. There wasn’t an ounce of perspiration or flushing anywhere.

“Lets go back. I’ll wash those for you.” Johnny said quietly.

Ten was staring at his hands, as if he were fascinated. “Ok.”

The boys put up a fuss when they left, but quieted when Hansol gave them a glare. “I’ll play another time, ok?” Johnny placated. To be honest, he didn’t mind playing with them. It was fun.

“Yes, you will! “ Renjun hollered. “It’s a promise!”

Johnny took Ten into the bathroom, and carefully washed his hands. He poured hydrogen peroxide over the cuts, and they both watched them bubble up. Ten was distracted for a moment before he let out a howl. “Ow! It stings!”

“Don’t be a baby. Hold still.” Johnny rummaged under the sink to find his first aid kit and sat them both at the tiny kitchen table, Ten’s hands palm up on Johnny’s knees. He dabbed antibacterial ointment on each cut and tear. “You should thank my mother for this. She shoved this kit into my car when I left,”

“I will if I get to meet her.” Ten smiled at Johnny. “Thanks for taking care of me.”

“I wish I had something else to offer you. I learned to make some healing poultices at school that are so much better for wounds than this. There’s a especially nice one that smells so good, just like cinnamon sugar, but that would be too dangerous to put on you.”

“Why?”

“Cause then I’d want to eat you up.” Johnny grinned at the snort Ten made, and wrapped the palms in gauze. After the last tape was placed, Ten surprised him by gripping his fingers. Johnny looked up to see the dark-haired boy wearing a shy smile, lips blushed with pink, gleaming at him.

“What did your friend mean when he said I was your type?”

Johnny liked the feel of those warm fingers in his own. “I’m not sure, since the last guy I dated wasn’t much like you. But I think you’re the type that anyone would like.” His tone was unmistakably warm.

Ten fiddled with Johnny’s fingers. “Have you dated a lot of people, Johnny?” He looked at him from beneath lowered lashes. “Were they all men?”

Johnny pondered how to answer the question without making himself sound like a fuckboy. “Well, It took me a while to figure out who I was and what I wanted. I’ve dated a few girls and one guy. I’ve had more short term relationships too, that didn’t really turn into dating. But I haven’t been seeing anyone for almost a year now.”

“Oh…” Ten let go, pulling his hands back into his lap. It was hard to read his expression, with the tilt of his head, the slant of his feline eyes. “Did you let all of them touch you?”

“Wh-what?” Johnny stuttered, not really knowing how to reply.

The edge of Ten’s mouth quirked up in a sly smile. “I suppose that means _yes._ ”

Johnny felt flushed, as if he was being judged. “Hey, how about you?”

“What about me?”

“Start with the basics. Do you like boys or girls?”

Ten touched a thoughtful fingertip to his lower lip. “I’m still figuring that out, but I think I may like boys better. Girls are pretty, and nice to look at. But boys can give me a feeling I don’t get from girls. Like my heart beats a little harder, and I get a funny warm feeling that’s really nice.” Ten laughed softly. “But I’ve never dated anyone.”

“Let me guess.” Johnny raised an eyebrow. “Your father didn’t allow it.”

Ten just chuckled.

Johnny heard himself talking, though he knew he shouldn’t. But the feel of ten’s warm skin still sizzled on his fingers, and the eyes that looked into his were so alluring he lost his filter. “So are you interested in dating now?”

The silence seemed as Ten regarded him, then the corners of his pink lips twitched. “Dating. What does that mean, exactly?”

Johnny wasn’t sure if Ten was being honest or dissembling, but decided to play it straight. “Dating is when you only see one person you really like and you take the time to get to know them better by going out and doing things together. You spend the time to see if you can love each other.”

Ten’s eyes gleamed at him. “How could I date anyone? The only person I want to spend my time with is Johnny.” Ten rose to his feet with a flirtatious wink. “Lets make lunch, I’m hungry.”

“Seriously…” Johnny didn’t know what to say.

“Yes, really hungry.”

They watched a movie in the living room, curled up on the couch with the cat pressed up against Ten’s thigh. Ten eventually had to go, pleading homework and laundry waiting for him, but promised they would get together again the next day. Ten hugged Johnny at the car. The smaller boy felt amazing in Johnny’s arms, warm and resilient, making his skin hungry for more as they pressed too briefly together. “Goodbye.” Ten waved happily, the cat in the passenger seat, and roared off in the red convertible along the nearly deserted street.

Johnny picked up the bandage where it had fallen when Ten was waving. There were still spots of blood on the gauze. Johnny crumpled the bandage in his fist and gazed at the humps of his own knuckles. The hand Ten had waved was exactly as it was before, pale and unmarked, not even pink where the wounds had been. In just a few hours, the skin tears had healed with just peroxide and Bactrim. He felt a film of unease spread itself uncomfortably across his heart. He turned and walked to his house, the colors deepening across the sky behind him, and slowly trudged back up the steps.

His house seemed too quiet and empty now, with a feeling of chrysalis where the bright thing has emerged and flown away. Johnny lay down in his mussed bed and took out his cell.

“Hi Mom.” He sighed.

“Hi Johnny! Its been a while since I heard from you.”

“I know. Sorry about that. I’ve made some friends and gotten busy with school here. But-“ He hesitated, gripping the phone hard.

“What?”

“What can you tell me about the _curtain_?” Since Ten had mentioned it in the bar, the term had teased at his mind. He had decided to ignore it – but now…

His mother’s low laughter took him by surprise. “You’re living next to it. Why don’t you tell me?”

“I don’t remember ever learning about this.”

“You never paid enough attention during basic lessons.” His mother’s groan of aggravation only made him more impatient.

“Yes, I was a shit student. Tell me what it is.”

“It’s the place that the barrier is thinnest between our world and the invisible world. You remember learning about that, don’t you? It’s where the demons and imps live, the dark realm. Why do you want to know? Its not of interest to any of our sort of wizard.”

“No reason. I just heard someone talking about it.” Johnny took a deep breath and blew it out. “Can you send me all my books from school, my alchemy supplies and my pharmacy? I want them as soon as I can get them.”

“Oh.” His mother was trying hard not to sound too happy. “Are you going to start studying again?”

“Yes, something like that.”

“Ok hon. I’ll send your things second day air.”

They talked another 20 minutes before Johnny put the phone back in his pocket. It was trash night, and he put his bags out at the curb. The downstairs neighbor Bertrand called out to him, and he sat on the porch and drank Labatt’s with him until it got dark. The Jung kids were playing outside, this time with Frisbees that glowed in the dark. Their laughter and calls were loud in the night. A girl rode a bike past, wheels squeaking, slowing down to watch the kids at play before moving on down the block.

The routine of classes started again, but now that Ten had his own car things had changed. It seemed like he came over every day, for one reason or another. Johnny couldn't object, because those visits were the best times in his days, even though he was happy and worried and frustrated all at once. Ten brought his vibrant brilliance with him when he came and brightened everything around him. Of course when he left, everything was so much duller in comparison.

“Johnny your house is dirty. I’m going to send my cleaning lady over to fix it.”

“You don’t have any food. Or cake. I’m going to order some groceries online.”

“The quality of light in your attic is perfect for a painting. I’m going to put my giant canvas up there, ok?”

Wednesday night saw Ten leaving late, wearing only shorts and a sleeveless tee after changing from his paint-spattered smock. The sun had already gone down and the sky was purple overhead, thick clouds hiding the stars. Johnny walked out to the car at Ten’s side, noticing a dark shape on the soft top. “Aww, not again!. He’s going to put holes with his nails.” He reached over to gather up a sleeping adolescent wolf.

Ten clicked his tongue, but couldn’t hide a luminous smile. “Naughty puppy.”

Johnny settled the lanky youngster in his arms. “He’s cuddly, but kinda heavy.”

Ten’s expression went soft as he looked at Johnny holding the sleeping puppy in his arms. He reached up to caress the taller man's cheek, fingers scrubbed but still smelling like oil paint, eyes glinting. “You look so handsome. So much that its dangerous.”

“Dangerous for what?”

“For my heart, of course,” but Ten was chuckling, his hand dropping to pet the puppy’s head. “Which one is it, Jaemin or Renjun?”

“I’m not sure, but he’s really out.” Johnny laughed as the young wolf snored.

“Then I guess I’ll say goodnight.” Ten’s eyes were big and dark, torn from the night around them.

Johnny regarded the beauty bedside him soberly. He had all the components prepared to call an elemental of the air, and was planning on beginning the cycle of the summons tonight. He had carefully preserved a single strand of dark hair Ten had left on his pillow for the spell. He couldn't think of anything but Ten when he was around - but when he left, Johnny's heart was empty and his imagination wouldn't let him rest. Johnny wanted to believe the simple stories he was told, but he wouldn't be able to reach out his hand until he knew the real truth The thai boy was the rarest and most wonderful thing in his life. He was going to lay his feelings bare - after. “Night.”

The cat leaped in the car first, followed by its owner; he waved cheerfully out the window as he pulled away down the dark street. Johnny walked across and knocked on the Jung’s door with his foot, to have it answered by an older man. “He was on the car again,” Johnny told him, awkwardly transferring the heavy young wolf into the older man’s grip.

“Sorry, Johnny.” The man gave him an apologetic smile. Johnny just nodded and closed the door for the guy, since his hands were full. As he walked back to his flat, he heard the squeaky sound of someone riding a bicycle down the street.

Someone should oil those wheels, he thought idly as he closed the door behind him.


	14. Chapter 14

The attic was dimly lit, with just a floor lamp providing a circle of illumination in the middle of the huge space. Each dormer window was open, the screens out and on the floor, allowing bugs to fly in unchecked. Of course it wasn’t the moths that Johnny wanted, but something bigger.

Johnny carefully poured out the cream into a bowl and centered it on the sheet-covered table that was serving as an altar. He had other offerings beside it; milk and chocolate milk and even a bowl of reddi-whip. According to the lore, air elementals were soft for dairy products. It was his objective to lure, not coerce; when you stepped over from exchange to enslave, you went from wizard to warlock.

Johnny sat down on the wood floor in front of the bowls and closed his eyes. He centered himself and sent tendrils of power questing out from his own essence. The tendrils shot out the windows, weaving together as they snaked upward, and joined together again forming a complex circular shape with a large shining dewdrop of power in the center.

Opening his eyes, Johnny sat back with a sigh. It hadn’t really been hard at all. He hadn’t done magic for months now; his reserves were burgeoning with energy and this beacon was not even tiring him. If there was an air elemental that would answer his questions in exchange for the pure dewdrop of energy and the snacks – he was going to have some answers about Ten.

Johnny rolled his aching shoulders – he must have been there longer than he thought.

_BAM BAM_

A loud banging made Johnny jump. He wasn’t sure what time it was, but it had to be late. Annoyed, he got to his feet and hurried to the attic stairs, loping down as the knocking sounded again. Of all the freaking bad timing, this was the worst. Who the hell was at the damn door at this time of night? Not only was his spell getting disrupted, Bertrand would probably be pissed about the noise. If it was Jae bitching about that damn girl again, he was going to kick his ass…

Johnny glanced through the peephole. Sure enough-it was Jae. He unlocked the bolt and threw the door open. “What –“ His words were cut off when Jae surged forward, his shoulder hitting Johnny hard in the abdomen and slamming him back against the wall of the stairwell. Jae’s hand pressed hard on his mouth as he gasped for breath, pushing his head into the wood paneling. A wolf came in behind Jae, snapping teeth so close to Johnny’s thigh hot spittle dotted his shorts. The black wolf growled, a ripping, tearing sound, but Jae moved to cover Johnny’s body with his own. “Go look for him upstairs. You can’t maul Johnny if he didn’t do anything!” Jae snapped.

The large wolf snarled in frustration, then turned to go up the stairs, followed by three more trotting through the door after him. These weren’t cute puppies, but waist-high large boned predators with long fur and glowing eyes. The last one growled as he went past, lips drawing back in wrinkles on his long muzzle, showing a full set of fangs. His eyes were fiery with rage as he passed by. Johnny felt a jolt of fear. What the fuck was going on?

“Don’t speak unless they speak to you.” Jae was whispering, eyes locked on Johnny’s. His pupils were constricted to dots, and his hot breath puffed in Johnny’s face. “Just shut up and don’t try to get away. I don’t want them to kill you. I don’t think you had anything to do with it, but they don’t believe me.”

An older woman hurried after the wolves, not sparing Johnny even a glance as she ran up the stairs. Hansol brought up the rear of the group, walking on two feet, but his face was so cold it hardly looked human. Jae slowly removed his hand from Johnny’s mouth, but he didn’t step away from the taller boy. Everything seemed to slow down as Johnny heard the wolves overhead, crashing through his flat, and stared into Hansol’s frozen, furious eyes.

“Where is Jaemin.” Hansol gritted, coming uncomfortably close. Johnny was suddenly grateful that Jae hadn’t moved away.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since this afternoon.” Johnny answered carefully. His mind was whirling. Jaemin was missing? Why the hell did they think _he_ had something to do with it?

“We could smell his footsteps, coming up here. I swear, if you’ve done something to that child, I’ll tear you apart.” Hansol stared at Johnny, with an expression too dire to be called something as mild as _threatening._

“Johnny wouldn’t hurt Jaemin.” Jae quietly assured his cousin. “I know we have to look, but I know Johnny. He wouldn’t hurt a kid.”

Johnny felt grateful to have someone who was on his side. He wanted to say something in his own defense, but Jae’s quick head shake told him to shut it.

One of the wolves appeared at the top of the steps. Hansol could read the wolf’s expression somehow, and so could Jae, who relaxed.

“He’s not here.” Hansol muttered flatly.

“He just came – to invite us to play ball.” Johnny was choked off by Jae’s hand when he wanted to say more. The wolves were pelting down the steps, silver, brown, brindle, black with a white muzzle. They passed through the open doorway and scented their way toward the sidewalk, spreading out over the lawn. The woman followed more slowly, pausing to exchange a look with Hansol and Jae.

“No sign of our boy. This fellow was up to some magery upstairs but it didn’t look foul. He wasn’t using blood or anything. We’ve got to look somewhere else.”

Hansol watched her go, then turned back to Johnny with a terrifying smile. “Where is he, your friend. That one with the cat.”

“Home.” Johnny answered shortly, a new kind of fear clenching in his gut.

“And where does he live?”

“Why are you doing this? Isn’t it more likely that he’s at a friends’ house?” Johnny demanded, trying to push Jae’s hand away.

Hansol’s nostrils flared, his face like hard marble as he glared at Johnny. “Renjun’s drugged. We can’t wake him up, and Jaemin is gone. What the fuck do you think happened, Sherlock? Maybe your rich boyfriend is into more than just broke wizards and cats, hunh? He stinks like magic, the same as you do. Jaemin’s scent cuts off at the sidewalk. Someone took him. Maybe the two of you took him together.”

Johnny tried to calm his own rapid breathing. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if he got as worked up as Hansol. “I found Renjun sleeping on Ten’s car and brought him to your house. Ten left right before that, and he went straight to his car from here. How does it make any sense that we kidnapped Jaemin and drugged Renjun and dropped him off home?”

“Johnny.” Jae stepped away from him, met his gaze with worried eyes. “I know you like Ten – but are you really, really sure of him? How well do you really know that guy?”

Johnny was left momentarily speechless. How could he say he really knew Ten, when he was planning to use magic to uncover his secrets? Still, he didn’t have to know everything about him to know he wouldn’t do a thing like this. He was pretty sure. A momentary pang of doubt made him feel sick and weak before he gathered himself to push it away. Whatever Ten was, he wasn’t evil. “I can tell you he didn’t hurt Jaemin.”

“I don’t care what you have to say. Tell me where he lives,” Hansol demanded again.

Johnny stood up to his full height, pushing himself off the wall. “I won’t.”

Hansol pressed his lips into a thin line. “Doesn’t matter. _She_ knows.” With one hand, he slammed Johnny back against the wall. “Watch him, Jae. Don’t let him call that kid and warn him. I’ll be in touch once we have thoroughly investigated.” And the corners of Hansol’s lips twitched as he turned to walk away. “We will be _very_ thorough.”

“Wait.” Losing the battle with panic, Johnny moved to follow Hansol, and found Jae blocking him. “Hey, get out of my way.”

“No, sorry.” Jae looked regretful, but something in his eyes told Johnny he was prepared to use force. Johnny knew that in a straight fight he would be no match for the shifter.

Past Jae’s head, Johnny saw Hansol walk out to the dark street. The wolves came from all around to trail him like large looming shadows, and a grey owl glided down from a tree in the yard. Hansol's dark hair blew in the wind as she banked her wings to land on his shoulder. She gripped there with her talons and turned her head to look at Johnny, round eyes large and black over a cruel pointed beak.

“Elizabeth,” Johnny muttered, feeling his heart sinking. She and Ten were friends, and she knew where he lived. He gripped Jae’s solid shoulder. “You have to go with them. I would have been mauled to shit if you weren’t here. Go with them and keep them from hurting Ten!”

“I can’t do that. I have to keep an eye on you. And besides.” Jae’s face was suddenly cold, just like Hansol’s. “I don’t trust him as much as you do. So sit the fuck down or stand there and don’t even try to go for your cell. I don’t want to hurt you, but we have to find Jaemin.”

Hansol was on the street, obviously giving orders. Groups of wolves peeled away to lope in the directions he indicated. He opened the door of a sport-utility vehicle, and four wolves entered. The woman got in the other side, and the owl winged off silently, pale against the darkness of the night sky. The motor started with a cough, and Hansol peeled out onto the street, following the ghostly shape of the owl.

“Fuck.” Johnny looked at Jae. He didn’t appear to be armed this time, just dressed in shorts and a tee, no bulges anywhere that would indicate a gun. “I’m sorry about this.”

“Huh?”

Johnny slid down the wall to a sitting position and closed his eyes, unfurling his sight. Jae’s aura glowed a healthy green, pleasant patterns shifting through it as his energies thrummed with his heartbeats. Johnny gathered his own energies, sucking them back from the beacon he’d created earlier. The drop of power was gone, but the tendrils of energy were easy to form into a rope. He looped it around Jae, then let it touch and ‘stick’ to him. Then, Johnny _pulled._

“Auugh!” Loosing his balance, Jae fell backwards, barely catching himself as he hit the floor. “What the…” As he tried to get his feet under him, his head went the other way and he crashed down again. Jae tried to roll over, but was even having a hard time with that.

Carefully spinning Jae’s aura, Johnny picked his phone out of his pocket. He almost dropped it; his body was humming with adrenaline and his hands were shaking. The rings seemed to take so long he though he was going to scream. Jae was laying on the ground, still trying to turn over.

“Hi, Johnny!” Ten’s cheerful voice could be heard over Jae’s groans.

“Ten.” Relief and tension made him grip the phone hard. “Are you at home?”

“Yes, you know I was going –“

Johnny cut him off. “If you are at home, you need to get out of there.” His voice was terse. “The wolves are coming to find you and they are going crazy. Jaemin is missing and they think you took him.”

“Ahhh?” Ten took a startled breath. “Where should I go?”

“Come to my house. Whatever you do, don’t get out of your car. Be ready to pick me up and get the hell out of here.”

“Okay. I’m coming.”

“Come right now!”

“Okay, I’m coming now! Bye!”

The line went dead. Johnny released Jae, grounding the energy at his feet, just in time for Jae to vomit noisily on the floor.

Johnny left him there, running upstairs to the attic. Just as he’d hoped, there was a translucent cloud-like shape hovering over the altar, sampling the creams and milks. He stopped quite still, feeling a flush of pleasure and sudden hope as he stared at the air elemental.

“Do you accept our bargain?”

The cloud blushed a glowing pink, drawing a tendril back up from the bowl of whip cream.

“Then follow me.”

Johnny ran back down the steps, practically bumping into Jae who was angrily wiping his face with a paper towel. “You bastard!” He grabbed Johnny by the shirt, almost wrenching him off his feet. “What the fuck did you do to me?”

“I gave you a bad case of vertigo. It didn’t kill you. Now let me go.” Johnny demanded. “We don’t have time to fuck around. Give me something that belonged to Jaemin. A hair. A goddamn toenail. I can use that shit to find him.”

Jae’s fist loosened as he saw the faintly translucent cloud floating behind Johnny. “What the hell is that?”

“An air elemental. I summoned it for something else – so we’re lucky. These guys are good at finding things.”

Jae let Johnny go, his hands falling slack at his sides. “I swear to god.” He burst out helplessly. “If you are tricking me I’ll kill you. Come on then.”

They ran across the street. Jae let them in, ignoring the women that angrily protested as Johnny raced upstairs behind his friend. The room was too clean; whoever ran this house was a good housekeeper. Jae finally found a hair stuck in Jaemin’s favorite baseball cap, and Johnny folded it carefully in a piece of paper and stuck it in his pocket before they pelted back down the stairs.

The doorbell rang and Jae and Johnny stepped aside for an older woman. She was dressed in pyjamas and a white lab coat; she also pulled a large suitcase behind her. The women ushered her into the living room where Renjun was still sound asleep in his wolf form, curled up on a rug.

“Its our physician. We can’t go to the hospital, for obvious reasons.” Jae was obviously torn, wanting to go with Johnny and also to stay by Renjun’s side.

Johnny went outside, and Jae ended up following him. As soon as Johnny was out of the house, he could feel the touch of the elemental as the cloud came wisping around him; it was cold and damp, and somehow _curious._ He took the paper out of his pocket and held the hair out in his hand. “This is a boy’s hair. Can you show me where he is?”

The hair floated up, off his hand. Jae watched wide-eyed as the hair began to glow, like a narrow electric filament. The elemental pinked again.

Johnny looked at Jae. “That means yes.” He looked at the hope blossoming in Jae’s eyes, and didn’t have the heart to tell him that it didn’t mean that Jaemin was still alive. He felt terribly cynical, and much older than the boy next to him.

The bass rumble of a large motor made Johnny look up in relief. The Porsche’s headlights were unmistakable as the convertible barreled down the street at a high rate of speed, squealing to a stop at the curb across from Johnny.

“Ten!” Jae was frowning.

“We need to go,” Johnny urged, taking a step toward the car.

The door of the house slammed open, and an excited woman beckoned to Jae. “Renjun! He’s waking up! He’ll be able to tell us what happened to Jaemin!”

Jae whirled to catch Johnny’s arm. “Just a minute.”

“I can’t wait. This elemental will get bored and go away when it’s used all the power I gave it. I’m going.” Johnny raced for the car. “Call me and tell me what he says,” He shouted over his shoulder. He wrenched open the driver’s door, looking first to see if Ten was okay, then he smiled briefly before he told him, “Move over, I’ll drive.”

Ten contorted his body to get over the stick shift and dropped down in the passenger seat. His eyes were wide as he stared at the air elemental that slowly detached itself from Johnny and floated out the window and up ahead of them. “What’s going on?”

“We’re going to find Jaemin.” Johnny put the seat back and threw the car into gear. The elemental didn’t know about streets. This was going to be a challenge. “What happened? Did you get out of there before they came?”

“Ahhh.” Ten’s hands slid on the doorframe, gripping on the handle. “Almost. But Kaya took care of it.”

Johnny didn’t have time to worry about it. Ten was with him, and that’s all that mattered. Now he could concentrate on finding Jaemin. The elemental was floating, and he had to follow. With a squeal of wheels, he turned left at the corner, keeping the elemental in his peripheral vision.

 

Jae watched the car leave, frustrated and trying to keep it under control. It was easier to be frustrated than frightened; he couldn’t let himself think about what Jaemin might be going through right now. He cursed himself for not being home earlier, and his half drunk uncle for not realizing that Renjun was drugged, not just asleep. He was about to go in the house when his father came running up to the door. He hadn’t bothered to put on any clothes after the shift. “Jae, we backtracked all Renjun’s movements and found the last place he was with Jaemin. The two of them were with another person at the empty lot on Adeline, but nobody’s there now. We found blood drops too. Renjun’s, and Jaemin’s.”

“Jaemin’s scent?” Jae asked tersely.

The man shook his head. “Nowhere else. We’ll keep searching.”

Jae pressed his lips to keep from cursing, and went into the house.

The women were clustered around Renjun and the physician that knelt next to him. He’d changed back into a boy, and was still blinking sleepily as he sat on the rug, wrapped in a blue blanket. Jae allowed himself to feel a small twinge of relief as he squatted down next to them. “What was wrong with him?”

The doctor was an old woman with gray hair cut short. She gave him a meaningful look. “Just as you thought, he was drugged. I tried all the common antidotes until I found one that worked.”

“What’s going on here?” Renjun was confused, blinking at the crowd of people around him. “Granny, why are you here?”

As politely as he could, Jae asked the other family members to take the doctor to the kitchen and serve her some tea. They obeyed reluctantly, wanting to fuss over Renjun, but they did what they were told. The doctor went along without any trouble, taking her suitcase full of medicines with her, leaving the two of them alone.

“Renjun, you have to tell me what happened tonight. Jaemin’s missing, and we need to find him.” Jae’s voice was warm and reassuring, but carried a distinct tone of authority.

The boy bit his lip, looking evasive. He wrapped the blanket more tightly around his small frame. “We met up with a girl.”

Jae knew that expression. “Ok. No matter what you say here, you are not going to be in trouble. That is a promise from me.”

Renjun met Jae’s gaze and nodded, his shoulders relaxing. “Okay.”

“Tell me about who you met, and what you did and where you went.”

“Well –the girl. She says she lives a few blocks over. She would ride her bike by here, and I saw her a couple times before I talked to her. When she came over tonight, she wanted to know where _you_ were.” It was obvious this had annoyed Renjun from the slit-eyed look he gave his cousin.

“Me?” Jae was surprised.

“I told her you weren’t home. She got even friendlier after that. She said I was cute.”

“Did she?”

“Yeah. Then she asked us to come see something with her in the vacant lot on Adeline, and we said ok. I know we weren’t supposed to but she was pretty, and smaller than both of us. I mean she was probably fifteen, but what’s a girl that size going to do? And you know, she wanted to show us something, it might have been something really good…” Renjun’s voice trailed off.

Jae tried not to look like he wanted to strangle Renjun. “How did you get there without leaving a scent trail?”

The boy looked shamefaced. “Jaemin rode with her on the bike and I took my skateboard.”

Jae regarded his cousin with amazement. “I begin to be very sorry I promised you amnesty. What happened there?”

“I don’t remember exactly what happened...” Renjun blushed.

“Renjun,” Jae growled.

“Well I do remember some of it. I think she kissed me. With tongue,” He added, blushing again. “Jaemin, too. And she was laughing in a weird way that kinda freaked me out. I was feeling sick, or weird and dizzy and I wanted to go but Jaemin just sat down and he…” Renjun knocked a fist on his head, as if it would help him remember. “He fell asleep? But I was scared so I shifted and ran for home. But I think – I got sleepy? And that’s the last thing I remember.”

Jae glanced sharply at his young cousin. There was a cut on his forearm near the elbow, and one on his neck. Both of them still oozed blood, probably reopened from the shift. “What did she look like?”

“She was really pretty. Long black hair. Nice eyes. Hot body. Not Asian, but not white either.” Renjun clutched at his knees. “Jaemin didn’t come back? He might still be there.”

“He’s not there. You may not know this, but you’ve been asleep for hours and we couldn’t wake you. That’s why the doctor was here.” Jae was sorry to scare Renjun. He saw the boy’s eyes widen with the knowledge that his playmate and cousin was really in trouble. “The uncles are still looking. Its –urgently important that you try to remember. Did this girl tell you anything about herself? Her name or her address?”

“No, but I do remember – she told me to tell you hi for her.”

 

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

Red tail-lights flashed as Johnny turned and the car disappeared down the road. Jae let his breath out in a grunt and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Where the hell was Hansol, if Ten was here? As much as he currently detested his rival, he knew his cousin was very good at tracking things down. He listened to too many rings before his call was picked up.

“WHAT.” Hansol sounded breathless.

“Come home now. The doc woke Renjun, and he told us a girl took Jaemin. Ten and Johnny are tracking him with magic, and we need to help them.” Jae was curt as well. There was no time for niceties.

“We’re coming,” Was the grim reply. “If the doc is still there, keep her. We have some injuries.” Hansol hung up before he could ask any questions.

Worried, Jae walked toward the kitchen. His head was starting to hurt. He wished that their elderly leader wasn’t ill with an exacerbation of his heart failure, and could have taken charge of this crisis like he used to. He wished that Hansol wasn’t going crazy because of Jaemin. Jae had done what he had wanted at first, but it had been a bad idea, just like he’d thought. Jae knew there was nobody else to do this for him, and now it was his turn to hold the reins.

He wished that he had been home tonight. If only he’d seen the photograph later, on a less important night. Maybe if he had been home, the girl would have attacked him instead of a helpless kid. Whoever the hell she was, and whatever the hell reason she had for doing this… he didn’t really care now. She was going to regret it.

The anger wasn’t enough to dampen his sense of guilt. That damn photograph, and his damn _curiousity._ He just had to hurry around the corner, avoiding the family room where Hansol was sitting. His cousin was repeatedly looking at his watch, dressed casual but too nice for hanging around the house. Jae knew what that meant, and he was mean spirited enough to hope that Elizabeth wouldn’t be there when Hansol eventually left to pick her up.

It had been awkward in the class that they shared. Elizabeth had started with a low voiced apology, asking him if he was ok, her green eyes sincere as ever, and he’d just brushed it off. Jae had thought he would fight this thing between her and Hansol, that he could turn her back his way, but he couldn’t even bring himself to try. It felt too fake. He remembered how the handsome bartender at HQ had laughed at him, and couldn’t say any of the things he had rehearsed.

“So, you don’t mind?” Elizabeth had asked him hopefully.

“Do what you want. We just had coffee anyway,” Jae told her, withdrawing gracefully, and she looked at him with a kind of surprised respect that showed she didn’t expect it.

It was different with Hansol. Jae didn’t talk to his cousin for a couple days. Even when Hansol greeted him in the kitchen he would have left without a word if Hansol hadn’t grabbed his arm.

“How long are you going to give me the silent treatment? You hit me first.”

Jae glared at him and pulled his arm away. “Can’t I even be mad? I put a lot of work into that girl, and you take her away in one night. Good for you, you’re really the man. I’m sure the two of you will have a wonderful time leading this family together.” Jae couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice.

“Jae.” Hansol leaned back against the kitchen counter. His normally stern features relaxed, and he just looked tired. “I won’t bring her here.”

Snorting, Jae rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

“I tried dating someone to please the family.” Hansol frowned, crossed his arms over his chest. “It didn’t work out. After a while you have to tell her you love her and that doesn’t end well when she realizes it’s a lie. I’m not going to do that again, not for anybody.”

“So you’re going to date Elizabeth, but you’re not going to bring her here?” That was ridiculous. Like having a trump card in your hand, but refusing to play it to win the game.

A small smile graced Hansol’s lips. “Yeah. If that’s what it takes for you to be ok with it.”

“Its really frustrating to get lied to all the time. Don’t bother.” When Jae brushed by Hansol, the older guy let him go with a sigh.

There was a dark place of hurt inside Jae, and he wondered if this time it was really going to be okay, or if this would be when the rivalry splintered them for good. As much as he was angry and disappointed, he wasn’t ready for that to happen. Not yet. Not until Hansol showed he was lying and brought Elizabeth to the elders.

So he didn’t want to say anything to Hansol, or hear anyone tease him about going out on a date. Jae turned into that downstairs corridor where the old people lived, and paused idling there, staring at the pictures on the wall. As kids they’d called this the dead gallery. The grandmas and grandpas would hold their small hands in their old, soft ones and point out that great- uncle, that great – aunt, that cousin, that brother, and tell their stories and explain how they had lived and died. There were hundred year old paintings all the way up to color photos, spanning the length of the corridor, ancestors furthest back, photos of the newest baby nearer to the front. Jae slowly walked down, remembering the faces and the stories, until he saw _that_ one.

He’d seen it before. He remembered the story of his eldest brother, who left home before he was born and never came back. This was the only memento they had of him, after he went back to South Korea. “You look so much like Minhung,” His mother had told him when he was child, and he’d liked looking at this photo of his older brother, anticipating becoming such an effortlessly handsome person. He was standing at some railing with three other guys, sporting a dimpled smile, his arm thrown around the guy beside him. And that guy-

Intense dark eyes. Half smile on his lips. Hair a shock of silver-white.

“What the fuck?” Jae plucked the photo off the wall and stared. He knew that this was Minhung, taken 20 years ago – but hell if it didn’t look like Jae himself and the guy from the bar. _That_ guy. The one who had shoved him up against the wall and kissed him, then laughed and told him he wouldn’t remember. That guy who’d looked so weirdly familiar, probably because his face was in this exact photo. The same photo that was in his mother’s room, on her wall, in an even larger size.

For some reason, it pissed him off, even as it sent a chill down his spine.

He texted Elizabeth for the first time since the fight, asking for the manager’s number. Next, he texted Taeyong.

_This is Jae. I figured out why you look so familiar. Message me if you want to meet._

The rising moon found Jae sitting in the back of a coffee shop, sipping an Americano and watching the door. A girl with long brown dreads was playing an acoustic guitar by the darkened window, and the plaintive notes seemed too appropriate for how he was feeling tonight. She’d just started on another tune, her voice blended beautifully with the liquid notes of the Spanish guitar.

_“Verde que te quiero verde, verde viento, verde ramas  
El barco sobre la mar y el caballo en la montaña”_

Taeyong arrived, pale hair pushed back off his forehead and still damp, dressed in black long sleeves and black jeans despite the humid heat of the night. People stared as he came in, and hungry eyes followed him through to the back of the shop where Jae was waiting. Jae stared too, wondering why it had taken him so long to notice that this guy was such an insanely beautiful person.

But Taeyong was the one who seemed breathless as he slid into the seat across the table. “Hello.”

“Yeah. Thanks for coming. I hope this wasn’t too much trouble.” As soon as the sun set, Jae’s phone had vibrated with the message back from Taeyong. _I want to meet you. Just tell me when and where._ He’d replied _, In an hour, at the Starbucks on Jefferson._

“Well.” Taeyong looked rueful, messing his damp hair with his fingers. “It might have been a little trouble. I had plans with someone, and she was a kinda mad – but I’ll make it up to her later. You figured out why I look familiar to you…” He let his voice trail off inquisitively, waiting for Jae to tell him what this was all about.

Jae reached into the bag he’d brought and drew out the photo in its wooden frame, laying it on the table in front of Taeyong. “I’ve been looking at your face for years, I guess.”

Taeyong gazed down at the photo. His long, slender fingers curled around the worn frame, and his eyes flicked from face to face. His expression slowly morphed from curiosity to despair. His face was pained, like he was wounded, and tears turned his dark eyes to liquid gems as tears tricked slowly down his cheeks. He stared at the picture like he was hypnotized, like it was hurting him but he didn’t have the strength to look away.

Jae couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. He was glad he was in the back, and Taeyong was facing the wall behind him. Of course the guy was crying silently, but…. “Hey – you ok?”

Tayong jerked, looking up to see Jae’s hand outstretched, offering a napkin. He took it and stared at it in his hand for a moment before he realized his face was wet. He pressed the napkin against both his cheeks, overcome with bewilderment.

“Is that you?” It strained credulity a little bit for it to be true. The photo was taken twenty years ago, and the white haired man didn’t look even a year older.

“I don’t see how it could be anyone else,” Taeyong muttered low.

“Then you knew him? Personally.”

“Who?” Taeyong whispered, his eyes flickering back to the photo as if it were a magnet, drawing him.

“My brother.” Jae tapped the glass over his brother’s face. “The guy hugging you. The one who looks like me. Minhung.”

Taeyong’s fist clenched around the napkin as he looked down. His wet eyelashes were dark, sticking together in spikes, a stark contrast with his pale cheeks. “I think I knew him. I think he was someone - really important to me.”

“Do you know what happened to him?” Jae tried to be delicate, as foreign as that was to him. He didn’t want to make this guy cry again. “He disappeared a long time ago.”

Taeyong’s mouth was bitter. “I understand now. I knew your _brother._ But I can’t tell you anything about him, other than I’m sure I knew him. Them too. _”_ He indicated the other men in the photo. “There’s something wrong with my memory. I can’t remember my past from more than twenty years ago, but I can recall some emotions. Some feelings. And I feel –very very strongly – that no-one in this photo is still alive.”

“And you?” Jae half-smiled. “You look damn young, for someone over forty. What happened to you, twenty years ago?”

“I’m sorry.” Their eyes met, seared for a moment before Taeyong’s eyes dropped again. He was gripping the frame possessively, looking at the photo like it was a holy book, with both despair and reverence.

“Explain,” Jae demanded, quiet but resolute. He gripped the frame, trapping Taeyong’s hand beneath his. The other man’s skin held an icy chill.

Taeyong shuddered at the contact, and bit his lip, strangely vulnerable. This didn’t seem like the arrogant, seductive man Jae had met at the bar. The look he sent to Jae was almost pleading. “Don’t – ask me that. How can I refuse any request of yours? You are his brother, and he was my…” Taeyong drew a breath, unwilling or unable to answer the sentence. “I – shouldn’t.”

“Tell me.” Jae’s voice was quieter, as if he could sense the fear and reluctance in the man across from him. He squeezed his hand gently. “Its okay to tell me.”

Taeyong looked away. Machines whirred behind him as the barista brewed up another customer’s coffee, and the quiet murmur of conversation was a background drone. The girl with the guitar sang plaintively at the front of the shop, fingers dancing on the metal strings.

_“Cuántas veces te esperó. Cuántas veces te esperara,  
cara fresca, negro pelo, en esta verde baranda”_

“It starts when I was dying.” Taeyong said abruptly. Jae leaned close, eyes on Taeyong’s face as he whispered the story of his wounds, the snow, and Yuta.

“You’re a vampire?” Jae’s eyes glinted in the low light of the coffeeshop. He watched the man across from him with a new wariness, suddenly understanding things that hadn’t made sense before. His skin was chilled where he touched the other, and he moved his hand away.

“For twenty years,” Taeyong affirmed, low voiced.

“What kind of life is that?” Jae wasn’t being judgmental. He really wanted to know.

The white haired guy managed a small smile. “Its okay. I keep busy with the business and taking care of Yuta and the others. I don’t hurt anybody. It can be lonely, but it’s better than – the alternative.”

“Being dead. Like Minhung.” Jae replied sharply.

Cold tears filled Taeyong’s eyes, breaking to creep down the trails along his cheeks. “I can’t remember.”

Jae wished he’d been gentler, feeling the bite of an unfamiliar guilt. He reached across with a new napkin, scrubbing the other man’s cheeks with rough tenderness. He startled Taeyong enough to make the tears stop. “Minhung was a shifter. Do you remember that?” Jae’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“All I can remember are just a few moments before my death.”

“Can you at least – try?” Jae was pleading now. He didn’t know why it mattered so much. Even if the other man could remember, he knew there would be nothing he could tell his mother. There was no way this story could be anything but tragic.

Taeyong tried, squeezing his eyes shut. He let the picture go, lifting his hands to spread his fingers along the delicate skin of his eyelids, as if pressing there would help. “I remember laying on the snow, and the pale moonlight making everything glow blue. I remember the hot blood beating against my hands with every heartbeat, my heart racing, wishing I had the energy to run. To run like I used to.” Taeyong pushed his fingers up into his hair and gripped his head like it hurt. He was chasing the memory down, grasping through it like it was an ethereal wisp. He chased it, and it led him down to that static moment, bleeding in the snow, just before Yuta had come.

“I wanted to run. To run away as fast as four feet could take me. Fast as the wind. I remember thinking that everyone was gone. That I was the last one, and I hadn’t been able to protect them. That they’d died protecting _me._ And I didn’t even have the decency to be able to get away. That I couldn’t even run…”

Jae stared, nerves pricking. Taeyong opened his dark eyes and stared back.

People talked. The barista made coffee. The girl with dreads started playing an old blues song.

“You said four feet.”

“Did I?” Taeyong’s eyes were vague, his expression far away. It seemed to make no impression on him.

They sat in silence. Jae wondered if this had been a bad idea. Taeyong stared at the photo as if he had forgotten that Jae was even there.

When he finally raised his eyes, it was only to ask, “Can I have this?”

“No.” Jae snapped, grabbing the photo possessively, but backtracked at the look in the other man’s eyes. “I’ll make you a copy.”

“I – need to go.” Taeyong was standing up, turning, blindly walking out to the door.

“Wait!” Jae grabbed the photo and shoved it in his bag, following the white haired man. He ignored the curious or jealous or censuring looks sent his way as he chased him onto the street. “Are you okay,” He hollered out, catching up.

Taeyong turned so fast Jae almost ran into him, only avoiding a collision because of his own preternaturally sharp reflexes. The vampire had put out a hand to steady him but let it drop since it was unneeded. The amber of the coffeshop sign warmed his silvery hair. “Of course I’m okay. I’m a vampire. What could possibly hurt me,” He replied with a laugh that sounded terrible.

“Hey, I don’t care what you are now. You were his friend, right? And he was my brother, so you’re my friend,” Jae told him gruffly.

“I don’t think it works like that.”

“Yeah it does. If I say so.”

Taeyong’s breath seemed to hitch. A couple passed them to go into the coffee shop, staring at the vampire as they went. “You’re only saying that because you want to drink at the bar again.”

“Heh.” Jae had to grin. “You caught me.”

Taeyong smiled, genuinely this time. “I’m okay.”

“Good. I’ll see you at the bar. I’ll bring you a copy of this.” Jae patted the bag at his hip.

“Okay.” Taeyong started walking away.

“and – one more thing,” Jae raised his voice to follow Taeyong.

“Yeah?”

“I remember all of it. Next time you want to kiss me, you’d better ask me first or I’ll break your nose.”

Taeyong whirled to stare at Jae who saluted him with a grin then walked in the other direction. He’d taken his time getting home, even stopping at the store for chips. When he’d gotten there, his uncle was sleeping on the couch and Renjun was in his wolf form, curled up on the rug. He’d tried to wake the youngster, and was still trying when Jaemin’s mom had come in, her face worried. “Where is Jaemin?”

And the rest of the night had gone straight to hell.

 _Fuck_ , Jae thought, passing into the kitchen to beg a little more time from the physician. What did Hansol mean that his group had _injuries?_ What the hell happened?

They burst through the door not long after. Thankfully Renjun had been taken up to bed. Jaemin’s mother had a dislocated shoulder, and two others had possibly broken bones. Hansol was okay except for a burn along the side of his body that looked like he was sent sliding across asphalt, shredding his clothes and rubbing the skin off on the outside of his right arm and leg. The wounds were an angry red-pink. It had to hurt but he didn’t ask for any attention for himself, instead hurrying to make places for the two still in wolf form (walking on three legs) and the woman clutching her arm to her chest, stoic faced.

Tskng, the physician got to work. “Everyone who’s not here to help me, clear out.”

The two of them retreated, standing near the front door and talking lowly. Everyone else gave a respectful distance. “This happened when you were after _Ten_?” Jae was incredulous. “How could that guy…”

“It wasn’t Ten. It was that fucking _cat._ ” Hansol spit.

Jae gazed askance at his cousin. “Yeah, I’ve seen it. Small, black. He wears it on his shoulder…”

“Hah.” Hansol cracked a smile, brushing at his ruined clothes. “It gets bigger. And it talks. We should have listened.”

Jae’s phone rang. “Its Johnny,” He told Hansol, who listened in as he answered, eager and afraid all at once. “Johnny! Did you find him?”

“He’s at the bar. At HQ.”

 

Ten and Johnny quicky figured out a system for following the air elemental. It was safer for Ten to call out directions, following the nearly transparent cloud with his sharp eyes, while Johnny tried to find streets going in the right direction. Johnny felt an internal disquiet as he recognized the route they were taking through the dark streets.

The car slowed to a crawl as he passed the dark bar, its simple sign not lighted up tonight. The parking lot was empty. Both of them gazed into the night sky above the building, where the faintly luminous cloud of the elemental hovered. It was blushing a faint pink.

“He’s in there?” Ten glanced at Johnny questioningly.

“Fuck,” Johnny muttered. He parked just past the bar, in the driveway in front of the locked gate of a used-car lot. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands where they gripped the wheel.

How many times had he come to this place, seen the weird shit going on here and told himself it wasn’t his business? Now it was his business and he was coming in like a fool and not knowing what he was walking into – other than that there were three of them, whatever they were. He knew that, for sure.

“I got to call Jae.”

The other guy answered on the first ring. “Johnny! Did you find him?”

“He’s at the bar. At HQ.”

“What the fuck?” Jae’s voice was heated. “Renjun said a _girl_ took him. Why would he be there?”

Johnny could picture her, the small girl on the dance floor, her aggressive glamour twining into and clutching at everyone around her. “Let me guess. Dark hair and small. Big eyes. A real cutie.”

“That’s what he said…”

“She’s one of them. Taeyong, and Sicheng, and _her_. You have to have seen them there.” Johnny was impatient.

“ _Taeyong_ and her?” There was a loud noise like Jae dropped the phone. Johnny held it away from his ear, glancing at Ten, who was looking over at the bar with his catlike eyes slitted.

Jae’s voice had firmed. “We’re going to get some people together and come over there. This isn’t going to be easy. Taeyong is a vampire, and she probably is too.”

“Johnny!” and now it was Hansol’s voice, his deeper, harsher tone loud in Johnny’s ear. “Give us ten or fifteen minutes.” There was a click as the line went dead.

“Take out your Sight and look,” Ten commanded, grasping Johnny’s chin to angle his face. “Look inside.”

He obeyed Ten’s instructions, his Sight easily penetrating the inanimate walls. He saw a faintly flickering green aura, weak and dim, almost losing the shape of itself. There was only one other aura in the place, a billowing red glow, amorphous and large, spitting little sparks of power as it heaved and swelled.

“Jaemin.” Ten was talking, quietly for him. “He is the dying aura. And the other one is a vampire.”

“Fuck,” Johnny said again, this time with even more feeling. He knew how to make many effective remedies against vampires. There were elixirs to make them sleep, or make them weak. There were weapons that could burn them. But all of them needed painstaking preparation and ingredients he didn’t possess. All he had was himself, a single air elemental, and Ten. “Why freaking Jaemin? They have people lining up in there to get some of that.”

Ten was biting his lip. “If we don’t hurry, only the meat will remain.”

“Jesus. Why do you say stuff like that,” Johnny huffed, thinking hard. One vampire versus him, the air elemental, and Ten. If they could get Jaemin out of there, it was possible Johnny could at least give him enough energy to protect his core from dissolution, to hold him together until they could get him to help.

“Do you want to try?” He asked Ten. He noticed for the first time that Ten was wearing a soft t-shirt and plaid shorts, almost certainly his pyjamas. His legs looked pale against the tan seats. He was also in his bare feet, souvenir of his abrupt departure from home. Johnny felt guilty for even asking; of course Ten shouldn’t come. He put his hand on the door handle. “Just…”

“No. I’m coming too.” Ten scrambled out the door, running off toward the bar before Johnny could stop him. This time he didn’t even have time to swear as he chased Ten down the sidewalk toward HQ.

They crept up to the front door quietly. Johnny lifted his arm and called down the elemental with a little twinkle of energy on the tips of his fingers. He cupped his hands, poured power into the air between them and held it out. “Again?” He asked the elemental, offering what he held in his hands.

It drifted silently down, sliding moistly over Johnny’s hands and absorbing the offered power into itself. He smiled, and pointed at the door. “Open.”

The elemental seemed to dissolve, sliding into the minute space between the door and the wall. Suddenly, wind blew harshly from the doorjamb, gouging up pebbles a few feet away and blowing a surprised Ten back on his heels. The deadbolt moved with a _thunk,_ and the wind disappeared. Johnny pushed the door handle, and it opened inward with a muffled creak.

“I’ll use the Sight to get through,” Ten whispered, stepping over the threshold. “You follow me. Don’t turn on any lights. I don’t think the vampire is with him right now.”

“Okay.” It was obviously a good idea not to turn on any lights, and Johnny didn’t want to be ensnared by the vampire’s beguilement running around with his Sight out. “Just block it off when we find him.”

The bar echoed with empty darkness. Unneringly, Ten tip-toed across the worn wooden floor, his steps silent with his bare feet. Johnny followed easily, his own steps sounding loud in his ears as he shuffled in his sneakers. Ten glowed with his usual steady radiance, a pallid moon in the deep darkness. The elemental was invisible without light. Only the clinging dampness on his left shoulder let Johnny know it was still tagging along.

Ten reached the door to the back rooms. He opened it with excruciating slowness, the tiny creak as it swung making both of them stand stock still, hearts beating, and listen. After a long pause, Ten picked his way down the slightly less dark hallway, Johnny behind him and just as quiet. They went past one closed door, but Ten stopped quite still at the next one. Johnny’s eyes were adjusted to the dark now, and he saw Ten’s hand on the door knob, turning, opening.

Light bloomed around them as they hurried in. At first glance, the room seemed empty. It looked like something a fancy prostitute would have in a movie; red velvet lounges, gold temple rubbings on black depicting sinuous figures, silk curtains over the closet. Small red-shaded lamps filled the room with a ruddy, sullen glow.

Ten had reached the bed, and he was raking the dark gauzy draperies back with hurried hands. Johnny helped him. He knew who was there, but seeing him was like a punch in the solar plexus. Jaemin lay as still as the dead, his chest not even seeming to move. His pale skin was strangely flushed due to the reddish light in the room, and Johnny felt a sickening dive in his gut that they might be too late.

Ten leaned close, not bothered by the brown crust of blood on Jaemin’s right neck and shoulder. “Jaemin?” He whispered in his ear, prodding his chest. “Can you wake up?”

Johnny reached over the still body of the boy, fingers finding the pulse on the other side of his neck. He was warm. His pulse was there, weak and thready. “He’s alive. Lets GTFO.” Johnny swiftly bent down, slipping his hands beneath Jaemin’s knees and shoulders. The kid was a dead weight, but Johnny was strong. He picked him up, Ten already leading them to the door…

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

A klaxon alarm rang out, coming from the bed. Ten ran back, sliding down to pull all the wires out of the white alarm at the side of the bed to stop the noise. Johnny felt his veins sizzle with adrenaline as he turned back to the door, but stopped short before he took a step.

She was in the doorway, hips tilted, arms crossed. She wore short shorts and a white halter top, her olive skin smooth and tan, her long lashed dark eyes lovely. She looked like a high schooler who should be sitting somewhere with her friends giggling and eating ice cream. “Oh, it’s you,” She pouted, looking disappointedly from Johnny to Ten. “I don’t want _you_.”

“I don’t want you either,” Johnny muttered, unable to stop himself. Ten pressed his lips together, gazing at from the vampire to Johnny, obviously at a loss for what to do.

“Are you sure?” Holly smirked, eyes widening her glamour billowed out, catching at Johnny, making him clench his abs over the sickness.

Johnny wasn’t in public now, and he had no reason to try and hide what he was or endure the disgusting feeling of the vampire’s touch. It felt good when he slapped her attempt at beguilement aside with contemptuous ease, a simple surge and twist of his own energy.

She gritted her teeth in anger, showing her pointed canines as she hissed. She was looking at Ten, then Johnny again. “Put him back. I’ll let you leave.”

“Step aside or I’m going to have to hurt you.” Johnny warned, gathering Jaemin up tighter. The kid was a dead weight in his arms and was going to make maneuvering difficult.

“Hurt me?” Now Holly was laughing, big belly laughs, clutching her stomach. “Do your worst, bastard. I was going to let you go, but its too late now. Nobody gets away with threatening me.” She straightened up, dropping into a crouch. Her smile was joyful, anticipatory. “This is going to be _fun._ ”

Johnny concentrated his hardest. He did this best with his eyes closed, but… He managed to send out the sparks of energy to show the elemental where. “Wind!”

The wind howled from out of nowhere. It blew Holly back and sent her tumbling down the hall, back in the direction they’d come from. Ten didn’t wait, but ran into the hallway going the other direction, Johnny on his heels with the limp body of the boy in his arms. They emerged into a family room, with nice couches and a flat screen that they hardly noticed as they rushed for the door. Ten’s fingertip had actually touched the door knob when Holly came shrieking behind them, grasping Ten by the shirt and yanking back to send him sliding across the floor to thud into the wall. Johnny tried to hold onto Jaemin, but Holly had him by the feet and wrenched him out of the wizard’s grasp like he was a doll. She tossed Jaemin onto the couch, where he hit and rolled limply off.

“That’s all you’ve got?” Holly was breathing hard but had a wild light in her eyes that showed she was enjoying this. She hopped up and slapped Johnny playfully.

He was halfway knocked off his balance, barely catching himself in time as pain bloomed hot along his jaw. _Fuck_. The elemental had run out of energy too fast, and there was no way to fight her physically. “Get out of my way,” He warned her.

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Grinning, Holly took another step toward Johnny. This time she delivered a roundhouse to his hip, too fast to follow, making him stagger the other way. “I like to take the time to break my toys.” And this time she looked across from him, to where Ten was getting to his feet after crashing into the wall. Her smile grew even wider. “After I’m done with the wizard, I’ll play with the cat boy.”

“Leave Johnny alone,” Ten snarled, then gasped with surprise as she swept his legs out from under him with a negligent kick. He crashed to the floor on his back, and Holly giggled.

Johnny unfurled the Sight halfway, just enough to See her. He sent out tendrils of power from his own center, sent them piercing through the disgusting nastiness of Holly’s amorphous red aura. She stopped quite still, her face showing shock as she whirled back to Johnny. “What are you doing?”

“Water.” Johnny commanded. He blocked everything else out. He clenched his fists. He _pulled._

Holly put her hands on her throat. Her body shook. She vomited blood, a great gout of it that splashed Johnny’s sneakers and puddled on the floor. Redness started pouring from her tearducts. Blood gathered on her skin, beading like sweat. She screamed and choked on blood, falling over on all fours.

Time stretched as he struggled, pouring his energy into the sympathetic magic pulling the water out of Holly. Like winching a rope dragging up a rock-climber, he had to keep increasing the tension on his pull; if he let go for one moment, everything would unravel and come undone. He couldn’t spare a moment to worry about Ten or Jaemin. He had to _concentrate_. He felt too much power pouring out of him, like he was bleeding himself.

Blood was dripping down her arms, down her legs in rivulets like rainwater down a hill. She was shrieking between choking up gobbets of blood. The white halter top had a spreading crimson stain, and color seeped through the seams of her denim shorts. Her eyes were red, the irises dark, dripping sanguine liquid like pittering tears.

The door crashed open. Johnny’s concentration shattered like a crystal, hurting him as the shock of the broken contact pulsed through his body. He stumbled back ward, hopes falling as Taeyong and Sicheng rushed into the room. Sicheng pushed Ten back from the door, slamming it shut. Jaemin was on Ten’s shoulder in a fireman’s carry; he must have been just about to make it out. The dark haired boy took a step back, gazing up at the vampire warily.

“Holly!” Taeyong fell to his knees in the puddle of red beside the vampire, gathering her hideously bloody body into his arms as she screamed, pointing at Johnny. “He tried to kill me!”

Taeyong stared at Johnny, eyes blazing with dark fire, beautiful face distorted with insane fury. “Then he’s going to die.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the poem in this chapter is romance somnambulo by Frederico Garcia Lorca.


	16. Chapter 16

Taeyong gently set Holly down, then rose up with the grace of a dancer. He easily avoided Johnny’s desperate swing, dodging to the side so quickly he was a blur. Before Johnny could even think of trying something else, the vampire’s cold hands wrapped around his neck like a titanium clamp. Automatically, Johnny grabbed the other man’s arms and tried to wrench him off his feet, using his size and reach to gain the advantage. It should have worked, except Taeyong countered by stepping back, pulling the larger man with him - and lifting him up by the neck until only the tips of his toes touched the ground.

_Fuck, this damn vamp is strong._ Hanging in the air like that, Johnny couldn’t get any leverage, and the squeeze on his larynx was tight enough that he couldn’t speak. He kneed Taeyong in the gut and pulled desperately at his fingers. Taeyong just looked up at him with narrowed eyes while Holly hooted and cackled behind him, still on the floor.

“Pop his head right off, tae!” Holly called out eagerly. She held out her hands, shaking and slimy with blood, and pantomimed twisting. “Pop!” Her eyes were wide with delight and she shrieked with mad laughter.

Taeyong stood quite still despite Johnny’s thrashing, slender and strong as a steel blade. With a frozen half- smile, he _squeezed_. “You’ll live three minutes without air.” The vampire told him flatly. “Enjoy it.”

Johnny tried kicking Taeyong but it was like kicking a tree. He only hurt his foot. His thoughts were running in frantic little circles, fear magnifying everything he was feeling – the pain in his throat, the burning in his chest. He needed to concentrate - pull off something magical -but he couldn’t fucking breathe.

“Stop that!” Ten shouted angrily, feline eyes going wide as he saw Johnny kicking helplessly. He let Jaemin slide gently off his shoulder onto the floor. Ten tried to dart past Sicheng, but the dark haired vampire jumped quickly into his path. His hand a blur, Sicheng delivered a sharp backhand across Ten’s face, the power of the blow sending him back into the wall. The sound of the slap rang out over Holly’s frenzied giggles.

“Shut up, cat boy.” Sicheng hissed, standing wide-legged between Ten and the other vampires. He took a quick glance backward before returning his gaze to the boy. There was a line drawn between his dark brows, and a frown pulled his full lips down. “They are riled enough already. Do you want to die too? I’ll get you out of this alive if you’ll do what I say.”

“He can’t kill _Johnny_!” Ten gasped, still slumped against the wall from the blow. His lip was split, with dark blood already dribbling from the cut. He gained his feet and tried to get around the vampire again, his voice raising to a scream. “You don’t understand what’s happening! _She_ hurt Jaemin! We were only…”

The next blow took Ten on the left, making his head snap back as he was knocked off his feet. He fell heavily to his back from the impact, cheek reddening, the thud echoing through the room. Sicheng put his foot on the boy’s chest as he immediately struggled to rise, smiling down at him wickedly as he leaned. Ten groaned, his hands circling sicheng’s ankle but unable to move him. The vampire licked the blood on his hand with a long pink tongue. “Cat boy, your blood tastes so good. Fizzles, just like pop rocks. “

_No. I shouldn’t have brought him here._ Nobody should hit Ten like that.

Hanging helpless in Taeyong’s grip, Johnny shut his eyes and descended into the core of himself. This was what years of practice with the Sorciere gave him – the discipline to force away his agony and discomfort, his fear, and bring himself to calm. He gathered up what was left of his strength, and sent it out against Taeyong – then felt it slide off the vampire’s billowing red aura, unable to pierce him. He’d spent too much against Holly, and he was weakening by the minute. He had nothing left.

Johnny opened his eyes. He could feel his vision darkening, but at least his discipline had forced away the pain. He looked across at Ten and managed to meet his eyes. The boy stilled under Sicheng’s foot, staring back with dark eyes huge and pained. It was almost as if everything was suddenly quiet and there was no space between them; Johnny saw nothing but those dark eyes, bruised and hopeful.

Johnny was oddly not afraid. He regretted, though. He wished he could see his parents again. They deserved better than to have such a thing happen to their only child. He wished that he’d been bolder and really kissed Ten when he’d had so many chances.

The world was darkening. He was feeling lightheaded, almost like he was floating. His hands and feet were tingling.

Then there was light, an explosion of light, searing into his eyes – into his sight, and his Sight. Golden, everywhere and all around, light streaming in waves, too bright to comprehend. Johnny could see nothing but the gold with black wavering at the edges of his vision, but he somehow felt the brilliance and warmth of this light basking against his skin and reaching inside him. It seemed to push the darkness away. Sicheng yelled out, sounding afraid. Taeyongs hands loosened for a moment, letting Johnny take in half a breath before they tightened again.

Then something changed. The light was gone, lapping in the corners as it seeped out, and it seemed like it sucked all the air in the room with it. An ominous, oppressive pressure was growing, building out of nowhere. The TV crashed to the ground, narrowly missing Holly. Sicheng whirled around at the sound of glass breaking as things fell off shelves. Johnny felt the pull at his skin, and Taeyong took a staggering step, his hands slipping on Johnny’s neck. The white haired vampire made a choking sound, like he was having trouble drawing breath himself. Holly had stopped laughing. The pressure was so strong Johnny would have whimpered if he could make a noise: he felt like his guts were going to be pulled out.

Then something _ripped._

The pressure blew back as the wall exploded outward- or seemed to. There was no debris, just thick, musky air that slammed into the room like a punch, filling and filling the place that was airless and sucked hollow a moment before. It blew into Johnny with the force of a tornado. He pulled weakly at Taeyong’s hands, trying to focus his eyes on Ten, who was sitting up trembling before the gaping black hole in the wall behind him. The hot air pouring out ruffled his silky dark locks and made his soft blue t-shirt flap against his slender body. Glowing threads shredded and burned and split around the edges of the hole.

Ten held up a slender hand, beckoning, and something came through from the darkness on the other side of the wall. Shape was indistinguishable, but it seemed like at least four pale shadows skulked from the darkness, transparent except through them all colors were bled gray. They gathered around the dark-haired boy, making him monochrome, a vision of black and white.

Ten pointed. To Taeyong. To Holly. To Sicheng. And the shadows moved to do his bidding.

Sicheng was picking himself up where he’d fallen when the hole opened. “What the hell are you doing?” He demanded, menacing, then shouted and spun as a red slash appeared on his cheek. Another slash bloomed over his ribs, this one black through the grey mist that shadowed him, shredding his shirt and causing him to shout out in pain.

Holly was shrieking, this time in terror and fury as she hit and fought against something that was nearly invisible. “Taeyong! _Taeyong!”_

It seemed like everything was moving so slowly. Johnny’s chest was burning like a fucking conflagration but he still floated in some half euphoric limbo. He no longer had the strength to even hold up his own arms; they hung numb at his sides. He watched Taeyong’s dark eyes blink in shock as he looked at what was happening to the other vampires. Red lines appeared on his arms, close to Johnny’s face, then blood fountained up from the slashes, dissolving in a gray mist. Taeyong cried out in pain, letting Johnny go.

Johnny felt himself falling. The room spun in his vision. His body hit the ground heavily, but someone caught his head before it could slam onto the hardwood. Johnny took deep, gasping breaths as his head was cradled against soft cotton and a skinny chest. All he could think about was air. It wasn’t enough. He needed more. He struggled to fill his lungs as screams and shouts filled his ears.

Johnny perceptions had narrowed to the pain in his neck and the breath in his lungs. He watched uncomprehendingly through the lattice of Ten’s arms as the vampires slashed and battled against the nearly invisible foe. Holly, too weak to even get up, was easily dispatched. Taeyong and Sicheng fought longer, but whatever it was that came from the darkness was much stronger. Soon both vampires fell to the ground, bodies riddled with bites and slashes but oddly enough not bleeding.

There was silence for a moment. The only sound was Johnny’s hoarse, ragged breaths. Ten stroked his hair gently, lowering Johnny’s head to rest in his lap.

The bodies started moving slowly. There was a low, scratching sound as all three vampires were dragged along the ground, their slack forms pulled toward the hole in the wall by unseen hands.

The door slammed back. Yuta stood framed against the night behind him, frozen in shock. He was wearing an expensive gray suit with a blue silk tie, and his chestnut hair caught the light as he stared. There was another tinkle of broken glass as he dropped his phone from nerveless fingers. He took in the scene in front of him, mouth going slack as he tried to understand what was going on.

After only a moment’s hesitation, Yuta ran across the room to fall gasping on his knees in front of Ten. Still feeling distant from everything, Johnny languidly watched as Yuta pressed his forehead to the floor in obeisance. He clasped his hands in front of him. “Please, Prince. I don’t know how my younger siblings have offended you – but please don’t take them. They are all I have.”

A light hand dropped protectively on Johnny’s head. “Why should I spare them, sister’s son? Can’t you see what they’ve done to us? The girl hurt Jaemin, that one hurt me, and that one hurt _Johnny._ Your creatures are really very bad. You don’t deserve to have them.” It was still Ten’s voice, soft and lilting, now full of fury and condemnation.

“Please, not all of them.” Yuta wasn’t giving up. “Its my fault this happened. I should have done something about Holly before – but I didn’t want Taeyong to hate me. I wanted him to see it, to know that it had to be done. Oh my god. How did it come to this?” Yuta groaned, grabbing handfuls of his hair. “I told them to leave you alone!”

“Your creatures are not obedient, sister’s son. See mine? They come when I call, even though it hurts them to come to this cold place. They obey me, and I _will_ reward them with meat.” There was a note of finality in Ten’s voice.

“You don’t need all of them, though. I will punish them, I swear it.” Yuta raised his head, and pressed his hand to his heart. “I love them. Please.”

Ten sighed. He held up a finger, and the bodies stopped moving. “You must swear on your mother that they will never bother Johnny again. Or the Jung family.”

“I swear on my mother,” Yuta said, voice cracking.

“One will be enough, for this many wraiths. I’ll let you pick which one.” And Ten laughed a little meanly. “Unless you want to save them all, and go in their place.”

Yuta glared at him, eyes wet. He pointed at Holly. “Take her.”

Ten snorted. “She’s the smallest one.” He pointed at Taeyong. The white haired vampire lay on the ground not far away, his dark clothes shredded to a nest of ribbons, dark eyes wide open. It looked like he was staring at Yuta. “Why not him? _He_ hurt Johnny.”

Yuta shook his head. “You said I could choose. And Johnny is going to be ok.” His brown eyes flickered over the tall man where he lay in Ten’s lap.

“You’re lucky he’s going to be ok.” Ten replied coldly. He didn’t say any more, but Yuta went a little pale and gulped audibly. Ten held up another finger, and Holly dragged along the floor more rapidly than before, greyness closing in around her and stealing the crimson of the blood that still covered her body, making her look like she was instead drenched with shiny black oil.

There was a loud screech of tires from outside, and Yuta snapped his head to the door. “Who’s that?”

Ten cocked his head, following Yuta’s gaze. “The people Jaemin belongs to. You’d better think quick, sister’s son, if you don’t want to be meat.”

 

Jae pulled into the HQ parking lot, wheels squealing as he slammed on the brakes. He threw the car into park and jumped out. Hansol was right behind him. Two, three other cars pulled in, screeching to stop in random places.

When he’d seen the rectangular glow of the open back door, Jae had known it didn’t mean anything good. He hadn’t been able to get Johnny or Ten on the phone, which also made dread coil in the pit of his stomach. Too many thoughts careened around his head, mostly, _Damn those impetuous fucks I hope they are ok_ and _please let Jaemin be alive._

Jae pulled the Glock from his belt and ran for the open door. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hansol do the same. He felt a surge of determination along with the hot adrenaline that ran through his veins. No matter what else was going on, he knew Hansol had his back, no matter what. Niether one of them was going home without Jaemin. Car doors slammed, and there was the pound of footsteps and the click of toenails on the concrete as they all streamed toward the back door to HQ. He made sure he had a round in the chamber as he came up to the door, crouching as he sprang into the room, gun ready.

“What the – fuck?”

The smell hit him first. It was metallic, iron of blood but something else too, like hot volcanic rock, minerals burning. Sweat sprang up all over Jae’s skin. It was hot in the room, and the heat was coming from the blackness gaping in the wall. It didn’t take a genius to see that was no normal hole, and it didn’t go to the other side, but somewhere else.

Hansol came in after him, spotting Jaemin immediately where he lay sprawled on his side by the door. He fell to his knees beside the boy and Jae covered him with the weapon, lowering it in confusion when he saw Taeyong and Sicheng mauled and motionless on the ground. The room was cluttered with smashed and broken items, and there was a thick puddle of blood with a smear coming out of it like something had been dragged through it. Ten was kneeling back on his heels on the far side of the room, Johnny’s head pillowed on his thighs and the long length of the wizard flopped bonelessly on the floor. That Yuta was crouched down submissively in front of Ten like a servant.

The edges of the hole sparked and burned like embers – and Jae definitely saw _feet_ disappearing into that blackness. As he stared, the embers at the edges brightened, too bright to even look at; and the blackness shrank, eating itself until nothing remained but a scorched wall and the smell of metal and ozone in the hot air. Wolves and humans poured into the room to find out that there was nobody left to fight.

Yuta pushed through the growling crowd and told them to bring Jaemin, and Hansol carefully picked him up. Jae locked eyes with Ten as he passed him, following Hansol; Ten’s calm demeanor and quiet smile reassured him that Johnny was ok. He had too many questions about what the hell had happened there tonight, but from the look his cousin had, there wasn’t a lot of time. Questions could come later. Now, they had to help Jaemin.

They put him on the bed in Yuta’s own room. The slim boy was pale over the dark blue satin bedspread embroidered with cranes, the blood on his neck crusted and flaking off. Only Hansol, Jae and Jaemin’s parents came in the room, along with Yuta, who was crushed and apologetic. The rest of the Jungs threw Taeyong and Sicheng into one of the other rooms and shut the door. Jae knew they would help Ten with Johnny. Now all he could think about was Jaemin.

“Reverse whatever she did to him.” Jae demanded of Yuta, his hand on Jaemin’s cold wrist. It was hard to find his pulse.

“I…” Yuta licked his lips. He bent down and put his head on Jaemin’s chest. “I can’t do anything right now. It’s too late. Holly – well, she took too much blood. He’s going into ventricular fibrillation from hypovolemic shock. I know you can hear it.”

Jae honed in on the sound of the heart. It was so fast, so arrhythmic. _No, it can’t end like this._ He grasped Yuta’s tie and hauled him forward, growling, “Do something! Save him!”

The vampire stared back into his eyes, the creature’s orbs a depthless golden brown. “There’s no saving him now.”

Behind him, Jae heard Jaemin’s mother make a sound like a choked off sob but nothing more. Hansol was holding Jaemin’s hand, his tears dropping silently onto the waxy skin. It wasn’t their way to scream and cry, but the agony in the room was palpable.

Jae dropped Yuta, listening as the heartbeats became more irregular, with pauses now between frenzied beats. He stared at Jaemin’s face, remembering taking care of him as a toddler, playing games with him, being the victim of his tricks. He felt his throat thicken, and he couldn’t swallow. His eyes stung.

Yuta stepped out of range and licked his lips nervously. “I owe you a favor. My –sister did this. If you want. I can make him a vampire.”

Hansol looked up, his face tear streaked, gaping. Jae was staggered at the statement. “WHAT?”

“He won’t remember you. But I will take care of him. I’ll do it, if you want.”

Jaemin’s parents stared at their other son Hansol, the leader. Jae looked at him, too, but Hansol was speechless, unable to decide if his brother was better off dead or a vampire. The strain showed on his face as he opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Jae heard the heartbeat stagger, pause, stagger again, and made the decision himself.

“Do it.”

“All right.” With a look that was almost regret, Yuta loosened his tie. “You should probably leave.”

Jae didn’t want to see this, but it didn’t matter. He’d made the decision. Now he had to take responsibility. “The family can leave, but I won’t. I want to be here when he wakes up. He may not remember me, but if he wakes up and he’s afraid, I want to be here for him.”

Yuta sighed. “I can’t refuse you. Do what you will.”

The parents filed out, holding each other and shaking. Hansol followed more slowly. He wordlessly gripped Jae’s arm as he left.

Yuta had his suitcoat off now, and was rolling up his white sleeves. “He’s empty of blood now, so there is really nothing much to do,” He remarked, gazing down at Jaemin’s face. “Just this.” Using his sharp canines, he slashed his own arm. He tugged on Jaemin’s chin to open his mouth, and held his arm above it, letting the blood drip freely.

The heart was suttering, pausing. The last pause was lasting long. Five seconds. Six. Seven. Jae began to be afraid that it was too late, that this wouldn’t even work…

Then the heart beat normally. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

And Jaemin opened his eyes.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everybody for commenting on the last chapter! That was completely awesome and I appreciated it so much! I revised this one a few times, so I hope you all like it too.

When Jae and Hansol entered the room, guns drawn, Johnny woke up.

He might have been in shock at being nearly strangled to death – or stunned out of his mind at what Ten did to save him. Either way, he had lay in Ten’s sheltering arms like a broken doll, eyes open but still asleep. He had watched the whole thing but it played in front of his eyes like a movie, without making an impression on his conscious mind. Dully, he observed the vampires losing the fight with the creatures of darkness, then listened to Ten and Yuta haggle over how much meat would be necessary like a couple of butchers.

Then Jae ran into the place, holding that damn gun, just as the wraiths pulled what was left of Holly into the darkness. Hansol followed him, shouting for Jaemin.

The thought of Jaemin brought Johnny’s conscious mind slamming back into the space behind his eyeballs. His body was slow to respond, and he was able to push himself up to sitting only after the shifters had taken Jaemin to a back room. He lifted a hand to his neck, wincing as he touched a bruise, and watched the shifters spread out into the destroyed room.

“How are you?” Eyes brimming with concern, Ten let go after helping him up.

Johnny’s face was warm where his cheek had been resting on Ten’s firm thigh. He remembered the boy’s arms cradling him protectively – and the way he’d moved his hand when he’d called the wraiths out from the darkness. “I’ll live. More importantly - _what did you do_?”

Ten evaded his gaze. “I tore the curtain. I-” He stopped talking abruptly when Jae’s mother crouched down in front of them. She had come in with the others, and seemed to be in authority when Hansol and Jae were gone.

“You two look slightly damaged. Let me see.” The matriarch gazed at Johnny’s neck and prodded it with her finger, making him wince. She clicked her tongue. “Tsk. That’s going to bruise.” She reached out and took Ten’s chin in a large, capable hand, tilting his head to get a good look at the dark marks on his face. “Ice, I think. I wonder what these vampires have in the kitchen?” She rose briskly, motioning another woman to come with her, and yelled at the wolves that had ventured into the apartment, “Get out, idiots. There’s broken glass everywhere. Lets find a broom and get this cleaned up.”

“Johnny-?” Ten reached out a hand, but paused in the air as the other man drew back.

Wordlessly, Johnny pushed himself to his feet. He still felt weak, but he was getting stronger. He wove his way between the two groups of men that were binding the wounded vampires. Niether Taeyong or Sicheng looked like they were able to move, but something about the way their eyes glinted made Johnny think they weren’t completely unaware. The vampires looked too torn up to live, but he didn’t doubt that they would be revived soon. Simple wounds couldn’t kill a vampire. As awful as they appeared, it was easier to look at them than it was to look at Ten, who had silently risen and followed him.

_Tore the curtain? Can a mage even do that?_

“Here, you two.” Jae’s mother had returned, the other woman with her. They had ice wrapped in towels, and two glasses of amber liquid on a silver tray. “Sit down, and have a drink. The ice should help with the swelling, and the booze with the shock.”

Johnny sat on the couch, not looking as he felt the cushion dip when Ten sat next to him. “You don’t have to do this.” Johnny’s throat hurt when he spoke. He pressed the ice wrap she handed him to his neck, looking up into her dark eyes. “I didn’t help at all. I didn’t save him.” _I couldn’t even save myself…_

The woman gave him a soft pat on the head, her gaze at him gentle. “You are a very good boy, Johnny. I’m sorry about the misunderstanding earlier. Just let us take care of you.”

He hadn’t cried when Taeyong was choking him, but that brought tears to his eyes. It made the shape of the glass waver as the shifter handed it to him. “Just drink it. I can’t think of a better use for the vampire’s stock of forty year old bourbon.” She handed the other one to Ten, who was pressing his own ice pack to his cheek, and went to supervise moving the vampires into a back room.

Following the tall shifter with his eyes, Johnny found himself suddenly staring at Ten. The boy was seated on the couch next to Johnny; close, but not too close. Heat lingered in the room; the ice he held at his cheek was already starting to melt, droplets of water trailing down his neck to dampen his collar.

Who was Ten? Johnny obviously didn’t know. He looked like a slim boy in a t shirt and plaid shorts, dirty bare feet bleeding a little from stepping on one of the shards of glass on the floor. His face was bruised, and his lip was red and puffed. He had the power to tear a hole in the curtain, and creatures in the darkness that did his bidding. He shone with a soft and lucent glow, nothing like the tsunami of light he had been before. _Ten, you pretty fake, you lying liar. When were you going to tell me?_

Johnny took another sip of the bourbon and slammed the glass back on the tray. “Why did that vampire call you prince?”

“I don’t know why he says the things he does. He’s my sisters son.” Ten answered dismissively.

“Then what does that make you to each other?”

Ten’s fingers played with the edge of the cushion. His eyes flicked around the room, noting the shifters not paying any attention to them. “My sister’s children are all over the earth. This is the first time I’ve encountered this particular one. I haven’t been here nearly long enough to meet them all.” He tilted his head, watching Johnny carefully. “Before I was from Thailand, and before I came here, I lived _there_.” He indicated the scorched wall with a pointing finger. “So, I guess some people would call me a prince of the darkness? I’ve only had my body four months,” There was obvious pride on his face. “You’d never know, would you? I think I’m really good at being human. But you’ve helped me a lot, too, Johnny. I could only learn this much from you.” Ten’s sweet, heated smile was overwhelming.

“Why me?” It wasn’t only Johnny’s hoarseness that made his tone rough. His voice didn’t want to work. He knew what was meant by _prince of the darkness_.

“You are the only one interesting enough to make me want to learn it. To learn to be human.” Ten’s voice was light and playful as always, but Johnny’s chest felt heavy. His heart was like a stone.

Everyone in the room froze when Hansol and Jaemin’s parents emerged from the back room. Their faces were rigid with grief, and Hansol’s was wet with tears. Johnny nearly choked on the bourbon as it burned its way down his throat. All he could think was, _where the fuck is the undo button. This isn’t fair. None of this._

Members of the family gathered around the parents, touching their shoulders, holding their hands. Hansol rejected the touches, walking hunched to the door where the wolves gathered, looking in with lambent eyes. He turned around and lifted his head, eying the people in front of him. “I’m sorry to tell you Jaemin is dying. He’s lost too much blood and his heart couldn’t take it. The leader of the vampires offered to turn him into one of them to save his life and Jae said yes.” Gasps were audible in the room, and the wolves huffed in the doorway. Hansol’s fists clenched at his sides, and he spoke like he was trying to convince himself, “Vampire or not, he’ll still be our Jaemin. We’ll be there to help him, and support him, and feed him if we need to.”

A few of the wolves whined louder, panting, and humans began muttering in consternation. Hansol yanked a throw-blanket off the back of the couch and went out the open door, as if he didn’t have any more to say.

Johnny whipped his head around to look at the back room. Jaemin was going to be a vampire? _Jaemin?_ He was going to prowl that bar, picking up victims and taking them into those rooms? How was that even possible? He was just a kid.

Jae’s mother approached again, this time wearing a frown deep enough to put a crease between her brows. “Boys, thank you for all your help. We couldn’t have found Jaemin without you, and we are so grateful, but you should go now. You need rest. The family will take care of everything from now on. Please go with our blessings.” And she bowed to them, respectfully and in such a way they couldn’t even consider saying no.

Johnny bowed his head back respectfully before getting up. He really had no place here. It was their tragedy. He strode out the door, passing through the group of wolves, leaving Ten to pick his way among the broken things to reach the parking lot. Hansol was standing draped in the deeper shadows against the building, eyes closed and head against the shoulder of the woman beside him. Her torso was wrapped in a blanket like a toga, leaving her arms and legs bare. Johnny was surprised to see the gentle Elizabeth looking so fierce. Her eyes caught the faint light with a warning glitter as Johnny neared.

Johnny didn’t disturb the pair as he rounded the bar, going back to where they left Ten’s car in front of the used car lot. The darkness was gentle and soothing after the harshness of the indoor light. Tiny insects whirred, unconcerned about what had happened in the back rooms of the bar, and night-blooming flowers sent their sweet perfumes into the air. Johnny felt like he could breathe better in this soft night air, with the humidity clinging to his skin and soothing his dry throat.

Somehow, after all that, he still had the keys in his pocket.

Ten got in on the passenger side and sat with his feet on the edge of the soft leather seat, hands on his knees. He gave Johnny a sidelong glance as he pulled the car out into the street. “Are you mad at me?”

“You saved my life. I’m happy about that.” Johnny couldn’t help the stiffness in his tone. “But you lied to me. And that makes me really unhappy.”

Ten's soft laughter made a shiver chase itself down his back. "I've never _lied_ to you. Maybe I didn't tell the whole truth, but I never told a falsehood. Each time you believed something different it was because you wanted to."

Johnny remembered all the things he’d accepted without much question, from the familiar to Ten’s protestations that his aura was damped down as much as it could be. He remembered the boy saying he had to live by the curtain. He’d never asked him why. “Are you saying you tried to tell me that you could do things like this? The hell you did. You pretended you couldn’t light a single candle.” Johnny uttered a sharp bark of laughter.

Ten rolled his head on the seat to look at Johnny. Johnny pretended to watch the road. “I can’t light a single candle. I could burn down your block without much effort though. It’s a matter of scale.”

“Meaning what?”

“I have too much power to do anything small. That’s what.” Ten was wistful. “I wish it wasn’t that way. I would like to be able to do things like that.”

Digesting that uncomfortable fact, Johnny was silent for the rest of the ride. When they pulled up on his street, light was streaming from every window of the upstairs flat and even the door hung half open, a rectangle of glow beaming out on the grass. He’d left it like that in his hurry to find Jaemin and in his desperation to help Ten. Now he could only laugh at himself. _Shit. I’m so stupid._

He couldn’t help the hoarse growl of his voice. “I’ll go in.” Leaving the keys in the ignition, Johnny got out.

“But…” Ten’s voice was cut off by the sound of the car door closing.

Johnny was on the sidewalk when he heard Ten slam the car door, the pattering of his bare feet. “Johnny! Wait for me. We need to talk about this.”

"Leave me alone. I don't want to talk." Johnny rasped. He went through the open door, his nose wrinkling at the smell of vomit. He tried to close it behind him but Ten was already there, his hands in the door jamb, his bare foot blocking the door.

“You can’t do this. I won’t let you!” Ten flared.

“It’s really going to hurt if I slam this door on your foot,” Johnny threatened.

“I’m not going to let you do that, either.” Ten was calm, but his eyes were glowing. He was glowing, brighter and more golden than before, the air around him beginning to heat.

“Shit.” Johnny abandoned the outside door, running up the stairs to the next one. Ten’s feet flew silently up the carpeted steps behind him. His slender body knocked into Johnny before he could turn to close the door again, leaving them both sprawling on the kitchen floor. Johnny twisted himself around to glare at Ten, who was pushing up off the ground. “What the hell is up with you?”

Ten paused on his knees, his eyes desperate. “I can’t leave you like this. Let me explain.”

“You’re gonna explain?” Johnny glared, getting to his feet. “Then you’re going to tell me everything. No lies. No half truths.”

Ten nodded and nodded. “Okay.”

Johnny went through the flat, methodically turning off the lights. Some things were knocked over by the wolf invasion, but nothing was damaged. Soon he returned to the living room. Ten was waiting there, looking out the windows at the street. His dark head was bowed, but he looked up quickly when Johnny came in, his exotic dark eyes glittering in the lamplight.

Johnny sunk into the couch, spreading his arms out to either side, trying to relax. Ten hesitated by the windows, his face questioning.       

"I want to know what you really look like. Show me your aura." Johnny unfurled his sight, staring at the body in front of him. “Don’t hold back.”

"If that’s what you want." Ten stepped away from the wall. As he released the hold on his energy, he glowed brighter and brighter. His light was a brilliant pure warm gold streaming in sparkling waves, his form just a deeper glow within the effulgence. Johnny shut his physical eyes in the brilliance, but the light was everywhere, overwhelming his Sight and illuminating everything. After only a few seconds the light was damped down again but it was somehow still in his eyes, in his mind, like it had left an impression on his retinas that wouldn't go away. He found himself blinking stupidly.

Ten was looking at him gently.   His clothes were smoking slightly, a faint burning smell reaching Johnny’s nostrils. "My father says that out of all the stars he loves my light the most.”

He had to clear his throat before he could speak. "I don’t understand this. How can you be so bright, if you’re from the darkness?"

Ten gazed back at Johnny curiously. “We are all creatures of fire, from the little imp sparks to the great stars that shine the very brightest.”

Johnny gazed at him levelly. “Assume I’m stupid and use short words. How exactly are you a creature of fire, or a goddamn star?”

Ten laughed, shining his smile, eyes half lidded as he sent Johnny a sly glance. "I'm not like that here in _this_ flesh. I can't have that kind of energy in this body."

Johnny felt cold at the words. He didn’t want to believe it, when Ten had said it before. Maybe the boy was right, and he only heard what he wanted to. "How did you get that body? Who did you take it from? I paid enough attention in class to know that creatures of the darkness don’t have flesh. What did you do to the person that was born in that body?" Johnny tensed, afraid to hear the answer.

Ten looked annoyed. "I didn't steal this body. What do you think, that I'm some lowly demon that's gonna ride a body till it burns up from the inside?" Ten snorted his derision. "I'm not just in it. It's really me. I had to wait so many years until I was old enough and strong enough to make my body, and even then, my father had to help me. This body is really precious to me, since I had to use so much of my self to make it. No normal body can contain my light, you know – everything is changed just enough to hold me in so I can be truly human. I work so hard to take care of it rightfully. Everything it can do, everything it does, is me.” Ten moved a step closer, bare feet gliding silent over the carpet, his eyes locked on Johnny’s. “But you should care for this body too, since you want it. Don’t you?”

Johnny had to wrench his eyes away from the beautiful and wicked grin blooming in Ten's lips. "That was before. When I thought you were a strange unsocialized kid from a weird warlock family. I'm not going to feel that way about a ... _prince of the darkness_. I have no interest in the darkness, or anything that comes from there. I know that prince of the darkness is just a fancy name for a _devil.”_ Johnny spat, glaring at Ten.

Ten tilted his head, looking curious. “I’m no different than I was yesterday. I'm a creature of fire. You are made of air and water."

"You come from the darkness. The creatures of the darkness are evil. All they want is fire and blood." Johnny muttered, not looking Ten in the eye. “Every time a warlock summons a demon there is a death. Everyone knows it.”

Ten half-smiled. "You don’t know anything. Demons don’t want to come to this cold world; they can only be summoned by their names, and then only held if the summoner has the power to do so. Demons suffer in the cold without bodies to keep them warm and they always hate the one who brings them. They have to obey – and the tasks that are given by evil people are usually evil. The minute the control fails the demon will go into the summoner and live it up until the body burns out." Ten rubbed his lower lip thoughtfully. "Demons are chaotic creatures that love disorder and having fun. When they get a body they eat and drink and screw like simpletons."

Johnny stared at Ten. He'd literally never spared a thought for how demons felt about being summoned – but all his explainations seemed to facile. It was so easy for him to dismiss everything Johnny knew with a few flip remarks.

Ten took another step closer. He was in touching distance now. He wore a faint smile. "I can’t be summoned by magic, or my brothers and sisters. Only our father knows our names."

"Then Ten is not your name?" Johnny snorted, trying not to be seduced by Ten’s eyes, or the melodic sound of his voice. “Figures.”

The dark haired creature tilted his head, black eyes glittering. "I am the tenth offspring of my father. So Ten is what they call me. We are all called that way."

"Who is your father? And give me a straight answer this time. I’m tired of going in circles with you.” Johnny demanded, eyes narrowed. His heart was beating quickly, even though he was only sitting there. It wouldn’t slow down.

Ten's mouth quirked. "The light-bringer, of course. The dark world's brightest star."

"Just answer." Johnny snapped.

"I don't know his Name, Johnny. He's the father." At johnny's annoyed look, Ten added, "The King of the Darkness."

"What's that supposed to mean to me?"

Ten sighed. "The High Lord of Hell?”

“So I’m right. You’re a devil.”

Ten hid his smile behind a hand as Johnny glared. "You are so superstitious. Hell isn't a place where bad people go to be punished, or a place of evil creatures. It's the invisible world that you tap when you make magic. It has the energy the shifters use to change their forms. Its power lets the vampires live off blood after the body's death. None of you would be here or be able to do what you do without it. You are the children of my sisters, all of you. Vampires, shifters and _you_ are all descended from children my sisters decided to bear in this world. Wizards are the eldest though. The finest monsters of them all."

"Why are you telling me this!" Johnny growled. He'd never heard this origin story before, and felt like his head was whirling.

"Because if I'm bad then you are too! You are the descendant of a devil! How do you feel about that, Johnny?" Ten grinned, pleased at making his point.

"I think you're lying." Mouth pressed thin, Johnny glared into Ten’s feline eyes. "Just leave me alone. I don't want to see you." He covered his eyes with his hand. He'd seen too much tonight. He couldn't deal with any more, especially not any more of this creature that he thought was his friend. He didn’t even want to be in the same room with him. That was definitely why he felt shivers chasing through his skin when Ten's warm leg brushed his knee.

"Do you remember when you told me that the way I was thinking about death was wrong, and I should try to understand you?" Ten's voice was soft but each word dropped on Johnny's ear like a musical note, singular and sweet. "And I learned how to respect life and honor death too. It wasn't easy for me to admit that things that seemed simple and easy and just _right_ were only things I’d accepted without thinking. When I began thinking, I started to understand more about this world. “

Ten sighed, leaning down to try and catch Johnny’s gaze. “You think you know about me too, but you don’t. You’re sure you’re right about something you don’t understand, but you’ve heard talk and half truths and you’re convinced that you know. You feel its just right and obviously true that a _devil_ is evil – but every prejudiced person is the same way about the things they accept as fact without questioning. Can’t you just – open your mind a little?" The boy's voice was plaintive. "Don’t make me leave you. I only want to stay by your side."

And Johnny could only sit there frozen as Ten crawled onto him, straddling his hips and sliding gentle hands carefully around his bruised neck.

Johnny couldn’t stop him. After all, those were the hands he’d been dreaming about touching him- that was the warm body he’d been hoping to get next to. That pleasant weight on his thighs felt good, and his body wanted it with a hunger that fought against what his mind wanted - to be cautious, and keep his distance from a liar and a devil prince who was going to do anything he could to stay with Johnny.

Ten leaned close, breath gliding across Johnny’s cheek as he spoke. "I couldn't let that vampire kill you. I'll never let anybody hurt you, I promise." And then Ten was pressing his lips carefully on Johnny's. They were warm and silky and soft and Johnny couldn't seem to move as they touched his own, clinging and caressing seductively. Drawing back with a hot smile, Ten smoothed his fingers through Johnny’s hair and kissed him on the lips again and then down the side of his jaw, leaving his nerves alight everywhere those soft lips touched. Pliant, Ten’s body conformed to the shape of Johnny’s, melting against him from chest to groin, and when he moved his head his whole body shifted in a stupefying caress.

Warm fingers cupped Johnny's chin, traced down his arms, leaving swirls of pleasure on his skin. Johnny could hardly breathe as Ten's hips slid against him and those lips pressed his mouth again, harder this time, more insistent. Ten’s breath was hot and sweet as his fingers curled tight around Johnny's shoulders. "You should help me out a little," Ten’s wieght shifted again as he leaned back to look at the wizard with sensual, half lidded eyes. "I need you to show me how to do this."

"You can just force me." Johnny's tone was flat, despite the way his body ached where he was being touched. "I know you can do anything you want."

Ten's hands were sliding down Johnny's chest, pausing to trace the shape of his nipples. "I wouldn’t. No more than you did when you thought I was just a boy and you were this much bigger than me. I know you wanted to kiss me. You wanted to touch me but you never tried to force me, did you?" Tens laugh was mocking, his fingers tracing Johnny's waistband. His lips were flushed, the wound from earlier already almost gone. "It hurts me that you think I would. But really Johnny, I am not the only liar here. If you want me to get away from you so badly..." his hands dropped lower, directly on his cock, and Johnny gritted his teeth on a groan. "...why are you hard?"

Johnny exploded into motion, grasping Ten's wrists painfully tight and pushing him away. Johnny meant to throw him off, electrified and infuriated by the teasing, but he saw Ten's pupils widen in sudden shock as his body went stiff. Johnny held Ten’s arms rigidly between them, never breaking the lock between their gazes.

"You're the liar." Johnny eventually rasped, eyebrows drawn low as he watched the dark eyed devil on his lap catch his breath. " Why are you scared of being restrained? What could have happened to you to make you react that way? After all you're from such a sweet and loving family of devils."

Ten's hands hung lax, drooping over where Johnny held his wrists cuffed, his body slumping a little as he breathed slow and deep. He uttered a broken laugh, looking down to hide his vulnerable expression. “I was hurt, a long time ago. I’m a portrait that’s been torn apart and taped back together but the pieces just don’t fit quite right. I am the least of my father’s children. Please, don’t hate me.” And Ten looked up from beneath his lowered lashes, his sensual gaze sending a wave of arousal straight to Johnny’s groin. Nerves prickling with sensation, his grip loosened, letting Ten’s wrists slide out of his grasp.

“I couldn’t hate you.” Johnny admitted, his voice dropping lower.

Then those hands were on his cheeks and Ten was gazing into his eyes, leaning so close, squirming forward on his lap. “Didn’t I save you, Johnny? Don’t I have some claim to your body? Share it with me. My body is very precious to me, but I want to share mine with you.”

Johnny wasn’t convinced, even though his arms were wrapping around Ten, his hands spreading out on the small of his back. “You have the urge to share your body with me after all this? You’ll do anything to stay by my side, though God only knows why. Is this your last play? How desperate do you think I am that I would accept you like that?”

“Its _not_ like that. I thought I would have time …” Ten touched the shell of Johnny’s ear, curious at his involuntary shiver. “What I did tonight – I’m not supposed to do that. To pull the curtain, and tear it like that – it’s just like telling everyone who wants to know that a prince is in Detroit. And…” Ten bit his lip, suddenly worried. “My father won’t like it. I may not get to stay. I may have to go back home as soon as tomorrow.” For the first time, there were tears swimming in Ten’s eyes. They were inky, and filled his orbs with darkness. “Won’t you at least kiss me once?”

“God, don’t cry. You look creepy as hell.” Johnny wiped his eyes with gentle thumbs, and Ten choked out a laugh at his words.

Those dark tears broke down Johnny’s last defenses. Somehow, it was the easiest thing in the world to wrap an arm around Ten to pull him closer, breathing in the taint of scorched cotton and the faint but dizzying scent of his skin. His lips tingled pressing kisses onto the soft heat of that pale neck, feeling the delightful shiver that went through the slender body when Johnny pulled back to look in his eyes. “You kiss like this,” The taller man husked, hand sliding against the delicate bone of Ten’s jaw and tilting his head just right. Johnny brushed his lips against Ten’s, light touches becoming deeper as Johnny settled the other body firmly against his, fingers sliding through that soft dark hair. Ten pressed his fingers into Johnny’s shoulders, humming softly as their lips parted and tongues caressed, hot and sweet and good.

The taste and feel of Ten in his arms plucked bass strings of desire deep inside, the vibration traveling through his body until he felt it everywhere. It was as visceral a need as hunger or thirst – his veins burned with it. It was by sheer will that he broke their embrace.

Ten made a sound of protest, cheeks flushed with pink, reaching to pull Johnny close again.

“Do you really want to share your body with me? You don’t have to. I’ll stay by your side.” Johnny didn’t want to stop, but he had to know for sure.

Ten’s eyes were feverish, his smile small and triumphant. He reached between them for the button of Johnny’s shorts, popping it open with ease. “Of course I do. I told you. I _never_ lie.”

 

 

 


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm writing this again! Thanks to the people who encouraged me to keep going, I really appreciate it. Here is a little update to get things going again.

_ Knowledge, it is gone. Volition. Movement. Emotion, sense of self, all are gone. There is nothing left but the burn of the hunger, a pain that consumes him to his core in suffering.  _

_ Senses are gone, thoughts are gone. All he sees is the red of the hunger. All he hears are its cries.  He is left in the hot desert, desiccating. Skin dries and flakes away. Bones crumble and dissolve. Internal organs harden, fall apart in pieces to be swept away by the desert wind.The hunger consumes and overtakes everything until he is only a tortured kernel of self trapped in a motionless shell of a body. _

_ The hunger is the hot sun, burning. He suffers soundlessly, stupidly, dully. _

_ Endlessly. _

_ Then a there is a stream through the dryness, trickling across the seed of himself. His body sucks in the moisture, his shriveled cells plump and the mechanisms of his body begin to work again. The stream becomes a river, a torrent, and everything is suddenly cool and shadowy around him. He swells and mends as the seed of himself sprouts and spreads tendrils everywhere, and the flower blooms. _

Taeyong opened his eyes. Soft light smeared in his vision, so gauzy and beautiful he could cry. His hands were locked on Sicheng’s wrist, his mouth full of dazzling wetness as he sucked from the vien. Sicheng gazed down at him, real and alive, skin cool under Taeyong’s hands. He realizes he’s in a bed. He’s in his own room at the bar.

“Enough.” Its Yuta’s voice. Sicheng begins pulling his arm away. Taeyong clings, but is too weak still to hang on and the arm is easily pulled from his grasp.

“Are you sure that’s enough?” Sicheng’s tone was sceptical

“Yes. He’ll be fine.”

Taeyong managed to lift his head, enough to see the length of his body stretched out on the bed. Experimentally, he moved a foot and breathed with relief as it twitched. He moved the other foot, then pushed himself up to sitting wtih trembling arms. Only then, he raised his eyes to see who was in the room with him. 

Sicheng was chewing on his lower lip, standing behind Yuta, who was sitting on the side of the bed. Yuta was expressionless, but he seemed to be blinking more than normal. There was a familiar boy with bright, curious eyes standing further back, toward the door. And a Japanese woman with blond hair, standing to the side of the boy, watching Taeyong with a predatory interest. She looked to be about thirty, sporting a tan and wearing a stylish gray pinstriped dress. He knew he’d never seen her before in his life.

It was that moment that he remembered everything.

The blond woman chuckled as he gasped aloud, his hands flying to his mouth, his eyes widening. “I love that moment. It never gets old.” 

Yuta sent her a sidelong glance, but didn’t comment.

Taeyong stared at the boy - Jaemin - who gave him a toothy smile, showing off his fangs.

“How long was I…” Taeyong looked from Sicheng to Yuta, ignoring the other two.

“Dead?” Sicheng suggested, pulling his sleeve over the wound in his wrist. “About a week.”

“A week? It seemed like forever. Like years in the desert.” So that night had only been a week ago - the night where everything had gone wrong. He could still recall the bloodlust that had raged through him, just like a shark afflicted with a frenzy at the smell and sight and taste of blood. It didn’t help that he was hungry that night already and hadn’t had enough the night before as well, since Yuta was back and needed his share. 

If only he hadn’t ditched Holly to see Jae. If only he hadn’t gone crazy when he’d smelled the blood and seen Holly being attacked. If only he hadn’t hurt Johnny.

It was all his fault.

Strength was returning to his limbs. His skin prickled with renewed sensation as energy circulated to his periphery and the numbness sloughed away. Taeyong pushed himself back to lean against the backboard of his bed, regarding the others with dark intensity. 

Yuta rubbed his temples. He looked tired, his complexion faded and pale. It was as if all the energy he’d brought back with him from Japan had drained away. “I woke Sicheng first, and he told me everything. And I know it was the truth, because Hatchi verified it.” He nodded to the blond woman, who smiled inscrutably. “I left you like that on purpose. It was a punishment.”

The blond woman snorted, as if she wasn’t impressed with it. Yuta ignored her.

“I told you to stay away from Ten, and not to hurt him or any of his people, but you didn’t listen to me. At least sicheng tried to keep him in one piece while you were killing his friends.”

Taeyong felt his heart thump. “I-”

“And because of the mess Ten made, I now get to entertain this lovely lady.” Yuta’s glare was heated as he looked at the blond woman.

“Yuuu-taaa.” She whined, then laughed in a jolly way. It seemed she was having fun. “You know you missed me. Give me a kiss.” She swooped forward, arms outstretched, and pressed her pink lips to Yuta’s temple. 

He endured this with his mouth pressed small, eyes burning on Taeyong’s, until he burst out, “Stop it  m-mother. We don’t have that kind of relationship!”

“You’re so difficult.” She huffed, letting him go and backing up to her former place. 

Yuta took a moment to compose himself, knitting his fingers before he continued listing Taeyong’s sins. “I also found out you’ve been covering for Holly for months. She’s been out of control that long, and you didn’t tell me or do anything about it.” Yuta wasn’t yelling, wasn’t angry. He wasn’t being scary. He just seemed sad. “You also told Sicheng not to tell me.”

Taeyong tried to swallow with a dry mouth. “Yes, but-”

“I don’t care what you have to say about it.” Yuta took a deep breath, let the air out again, as if he didn’t really want to speak. “So, I’m done with you. You can leave with what you came with - the clothes on your back. You can also take this child Jaemin, because I will no longer keep shifters as my brothers. Its too much trouble.”

“What - what?” 

“You heard me, didn’t you?” Yuta snapped, his eyes lighting with a little of his old fire. Sicheng put a hand on his shoulder and Yuta leaned back against him, as if he needed the support. “Take the kid and go. Care for him or leave him, its your decision. You’ll get no further support from me. But I do promise you that if I hear of either one of you murdering humans, I will kill you.”

“Do you mean - now?” Taeyong was in shock.

“Yes. Right fucking now.”

“But what about my house, all my -”

“Its all gone.” This time it was Sicheng. His face was expressionless. “All your things. All of Holly’s.”

Taeyong felt sick. All his documents were in there, everything he’d needed to start a new life. And he wouldn’t have one keepsake to remember Holly by, not one picture, not one gift she’d given him. It was too cruel. 

He slid out of the bed, and made sure his legs were steady before getting up. Somebody must have washed and changed him; he remembered his clothes had been ripped to peices and he was covered by his own blood. He must have stunk being like that for a week. Now he wore a set of black sweatpants with empty pockets and a black t-shirt. He walked by his former brothers and the woman Yuta claimed was his mother, and held out his hand to the boy. “Come on Jaemin. Lets go.”

Jaemin curled his fingers around Taeyong’s larger ones and followed him out of the bar. Nobody said anything, or tried to stop them. They walked out into a clear night with hardly any wind, stars strewn like thrown jewels overhead but no sign of the moon. Taeyong started walking in his bare feet. Every step seemed to drain his energy, until he felt like he was dragging through a lake of molasses. Doggedly, he kept walking. He would never go back there. Never.

“Where are we going?” The boy finally asked.

“I don’t know.” There was too much in Taeyong’s head. He should be deciding what to do and making a plan, but his brain wasn’t working right. He kept seeing Holly covered in blood, and his hands around Johnny’s neck. He could still feel the hot talons of the wraiths slashing his skin and smell their foul stench, like sulphur and metal. He remembered thinking he was going to be eaten alive. Not much frightened him, but that had. Before the hunger took over, he had a short while to be grateful it wasn’t him that was taken into the darkness. 

“Well. I can call my cousin. You don’t know it, cause you’ve been dead the whole time, but I have a big family,” Jaemin skipped along beside Taeyong. “I’m a vampire now, but I used to be a wolf shifter. Yuta and Sicheng didn’t want my family to see me, but Jae said no. He won’t let me forget my family, or who I am. They will always see me. I’m still part of the pack, even if I’m a vampire now.” He grabbed Taeyong’s arm and stopped him from walking. His eyes were like liquid in the dark. “Lets call Jae. He’ll come get us.”

Taeyong’s legs suddenly felt too weak to hold him. He let himself fall to the ground in a crouch. Somehow, he’d forgotten about Jae. Now he remembered Jae’s rough fingers, wiping his tears. He remembered his smile when he promised him a copy of that photo. What would he think of his cousin being a fucking vampire? Taeyong put his head in his hands, thinking it was possibly better to just sit here and wait for the sun to come up.

“Are you sick? Do you need more blood?” Jaemin sounded concerned.

“I don’t know.” Taeyong’s voice was muffled by his hands.

Awkwardly, Jaemin patted the top of his head, then reached in his pocket for his cell phone. Taeyong heard the rings, and the familiar voice picking up on the other end. “Jaemin? Whats up.”

“Uncle, can you come get us? Taeyong and I got kicked out of the house by those guys. They didn’t give us any money or anything. We don’t have anyplace to go.”

“Uh. Taeyong’s awake?”

“Yeah, but he’s sick or something. I dunno.”

“I’ll come. Just stay there.”

It seemed only minutes when a SUV pulled up in front of them. Jaemin tried to get Taeyong up, but he was numb again. He could only move slowly, raising his head to see Jae frowning down at him, backlit by the headlights. “Whats wrong with you?”

“He was dead, until like a half hour ago,” Jaemin supplied helpfully. With cheerful ease, the boy picked up the older vampire in his thin arms. “I’ll put him in the back seat.”

  
  
  
  



	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the encouraging comments, I appreciate them a lot!

Jae put the bell down on the end table, still hearing the echoes of the ringing in his ears. Twenty family members were sitting around the living room, waiting for his words. Grandfather was there, in his wheelchair, swollen legs elevated on a stool. Grandmother was yawning by his side, tiny and steely with her white hair brushed smooth. Great aunt and uncle were in the big chairs, younger folk sitting at their feet. Even Aunt Jan had come out, scowling in her robe and slippers. “Family meeting in session.”

Hansol was perched on the edge of the couch, expressionless. He had been recalled from his night out, and Jae wasn’t really sorry for that, but one of the younger couples had also returned early from their date night and both of them looked distinctly pouty. Jaemin was the only child present, cocooned between his parents on the love seat. 

Jae had played with the notion of hiding Jaemin and Taeyong in the basement for a few days, like a couple of stray puppies he wanted to keep. It would have been so easy and so simple, but he couldn’t do it. Things had changed for him at home since he’d made the decision to let Jaemin be made into a vampire. He could sense with his elders and with his age mates. There was an increased respect in the way that they looked at him, and also a distance that was new and a little bit lonely. Everyone in the pack understood that one decision had been the end of Jae’s childhood.

“Thanks for coming out, everyone. I’ll try to make this quick.” He took a deep breath, squared his broad shoulders, then dropped the bomb. “Yuta sent Jaemin and Taeyong away from the vampire house. He told them that they can’t live with him anymore, and I talked to him and confirmed it. I brought them here, because they have nowhere else to go. I can’t have them stay without the approval of the elders and the majority of the rest of you. So here I am asking for it.”

He braced himself as the room blew up.

The girls were on their feet, yelling about the safety of the children. Jaemin’s mother stood to face them, growling back that Jaemin was her child and she wasn’t going to put him on the streets. The young men tried to soothe their wives, getting their hands smacked for their trouble. 

“That’s enough,” Jae’s mother Hana had a voice that cut through the noise. The flurry of voices cut off as they stared at her. “Let grandfather speak.”

The old man nodded and spoke breathlessly, like he always did now. “I see Jaemin. Where is the other one?’

“In the basement!” Jaemin answered.

“He was one of the vampires that were cut up during the incident at the bar - they just woke him up tonight. He’s weak so he’s just down there now,” Jae supplied. Grandfather was looking at him, and it felt like it was only the two of them in the room. Some of the others started talking again, but Jae could hone in on grandfather’s voice with his excellent hearing.

“Do  _ you _ believe it’s safe for us to have these two in the house?” Grandfather’s cloudy gray eyes were fixed on his.

Jae couldn’t lie to Grandfather. “No. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.”

“Keeping this family safe is our greatest priority,” Grandfather reminded him resolutely. He paused to take a wheezy breath.

“This family is more than just shifters now.” Jae replied firmly, unyielding.

“How can you even call him family?” Uncle Joon asked angrily, catching the end of the conversation. “I’m sorry brothers and sisters, but that child is a vampire. We are just food to him now! Kid, do you even know my name?” He demanded of Jaemin.

The boy  regarded the man’s grizzled face. “Well … I don’t know your name, but I do know that you are the drunk uncle.”

Joon paused, his jaw dropping. His face flushed pink. Hansol laughed, and there were other titters around the room. Jaemin’s father surreptitiously patted his head.

“Jaemin is ours,” Grandfather stated, and everyone could tell from his tone that this was his final word. There would be no argument. “But the other one is not.”

“But Jaemin has to stay with him,” Jae explained to his grandfather. “Jaemin doesn’t know how to be a vampire. Taeyong can teach him. One thing I know about Taeyong is that he has been a vampire for years without harming anybody; I got that straight from Yuta.” Jae didn’t feel bad about the fib. Johnny was not really harmed. HIs bruises were already healing.

Grandfather uttered a chuckle that sounded like a cough, his wise old eyes fixed on Jae’s bright ones. “Don’t be a fool. That vampire has his own agenda, you can be sure of it.”

“How would you feel if they killed one of the babies?” Jae’s cousin Kaylin demanded. She had two little ones, just six and two. “Would you fight for vampires to be here then?”

“That’s why Taeyong has to be here. He will watch over Jaemin and make sure that doesn’t happen, They lived there for years with no trouble, until that Holly started going crazy.” Jae felt his patience fraying. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but he was hoping at least that Hansol would help him. The dark haired man watched the arguments fly back and forth but didn’t comment, just wore a slight frown on his face.

Aunt Jan commented in her usual contemptuous tone, “This is what you get when you let pups make the decisions their elders should be making. Who ever had a vampire in the family? Only the Jungs would do something so stupid.”

That brought out angry shouts from every side. “Pipe down, you old hag,” Grandmother snapped at her sister in law. 

“Make me,” Jan invited sullenly.

Grandfather’s mouth twitched, though he didn’t quite smile. “Quiet down,” Grandfather ordered, but his breathy voice remained unheard over the babble.

“Quiet down!” Jae roared. The authoritative, growling edge to his tone cut through the other voices and shut them down. Aunt snorted but didn’t dare say anything else. “Listen, I’m not saying that they should stay here forever. Just long enough to find a safe place for themselves.”

“We will keep Jaemin, but the other vampire should go.” Eldest Uncle remarked, rubbing his grey-stubbled cheeks. “He’s not one of us, and we don’t know him.”

“He was a shifter too, though!” Jae tried to keep his temper out of his reply. If he offended the elders they wouldn’t entertain anything he had to say.

“He’s not from our pack,” Grandmother stated, her firm voice at odds with her thin and frail body. The other elders were nodding in agreement. Jae caught Hansol’s eyes but the older man still seemed unsure, not ready to speak. There was obviously no support on that front; jae would have to find it elsewhere.

“Don’t you understand that Jaemin is more dangerous to us than Taeyong is? And more dangerous than that  _ without _ Taeyong?” Frustration added a harsher edge to Jae’s voice.

Heads turned to look at Jaemin. His dark hair was mussed, and he looked small and harmless seated between his parents. His brown eyes glittered in the light, and he looked innocent like the child he no longer was. 

“Pish. That’s what the senior Vampire told you.” Aunt Jan’s voice implied that Jae was too stupid to tell truth from lies.

“YES,” The drunk uncle seconded, seemingly willing to agree with anyone if it was against Jae.

“You are making a terrible mistake. We can’t throw Taeyong out on the street. He’s not just some random vampire.” He locked eyes with his mother, across the room. She stood with her arms folded, a sturdy, tall woman with dark hair streaked in gray, pulled back into a loose bun. She hadn’t said anything yet, for or against him, but he knew his next words would bring out a reaction. “Taeyong was Minhyun’s friend.”

Silence spread across the room, from the elders sweeping down to the youngest adults. It was deeper than when Jae shouted the voices down, deep as a well with no bottom. Grandmother’s thin hand clenched on grandfather’s shoulder. Kaylin shifted on her feet, and her husband blinked in confusion. Aunt Jan looked at her toes. Everyone else looked at Jae’s mother Hana, who stared back at her son. It felt like everyone was holding their breath. “What did you say?”

Jae felt the tension in the room like a charge against his skin, electricity building up to discharge somewhere. He took a deep breath and continued. “Taeyong was a friend of Minhyun. He was in the picture you have in your room, with Minhyun. I showed it to him and it’s him for sure, but he doesn’t remember exactly how they knew each other. Just like Jaemin, he can’t really remember what happened before he was a vampire.” 

Hana clenched her two hands together in front of her, gripping tightly. “Which one was he? From the picture.”

“The one with the white hair, next to Minhyun…”

There was silence again, a heavy silence that Jae didn’t completely understand. Only Uncle Joon seemed to be able to bluster through it. “Well, so what? That was a long time ago, and none of the current elders had anything to do with that…”

Jae’s mom’s eyes had grown huge as he spoke. Jae’s older sister jumped off the couch to round on the uncle, looking uncharacteristically furious. “Shut up, you idiot! Every time you open your damn mouth nothing but shit falls out.”

Hana made a quelling gesture, standing calm and upright next to her daughter. Jae took the few steps it took to stand on her other side. His sister’s husband was on the couch behind them, looking more than ready to stand up with the rest of them if needed. “If he was in Minhyun’s pack then he is ours as well.” Hana didn’t shout, but the finality in her voice was like a heavy stone dropping. She locked eyes with Grandfather. “We made a mistake before when the elders sent Minhyun away and we just allowed them to do it.” She said  _ we _ but it was more than obvious she meant  _ you.  _ “Minhyun is dead, and now his friend is here needing our help. Somehow that poor boy became a vampire. We are still feeling the aftershocks of that day we sent my son out of this house!”

Grandfather appeared distressed. “Yes, sending Minhyun was a mistake. That was a terrible time in our lives, and I am ashamed to remember it. I know I waited too long to remove our old leader. But taking in a vampire is dangerous, and it won’t right past wrongs.”

“Abandoning family when they need us, because they are not what we want, just continues past wrongs. And I won’t do that. Not this time.”

All the younger family members had quieted. Hana was a kind woman, but everyone had seen her wrath from time to time, and it was something to take seriously. To see her facing off with the elders was something they all viewed with a certain sense of unease.

“What exactly are you saying, Hana.” Grandmother’s tone was sharp. Lightning flashed between their glares as the old alpha female faced off with the current female leader of the group.

“You know exactly what I’m saying. I  _ won’t abandon them. _ If you won’t do the right thing, I’ll make sure it is done this time.”

“ _ Hana. _ ” Jae’s father growled at her from across the room. “Sit down and listen to grandfather.”

“ _ Don’t even talk to me about this,”  _ She snarled back. “ _ Unless you want to be bitten _ .”

Grandfather sighed. Jae held his breath as the old man finally spoke. “I need more information to make up my mind. We will talk to Taeyong and find out what kind of person he is. We will revisit this issue tomorrow.”

“I won’t have my children here then,” Kaylin flared. “I’m going to my mother’s!”

“Aww, don’t go.” Jae’s sister was patently insincere. 

Other family members were grumbling but nobody else threatened to leave. Jae raised an eyebrow, watching his grandfather wheel toward them. The old man could possibly delay his decision indefinitely, until the vampires were gone. It was a pretty smooth move, and Jae filed it away in his mental file for when he was leader. If that could possibly happen after the havoc he was causing now.

“Jae, Hansol.” Grandfather called, “Help me up.” Jae and Hansol exchanged a glance, but did what they were bidden. Jae was careful not to grip too tight and injure grandfather’s paper-thin skin. They were able to get grandfather up to attempt the stairs, but after only a few steps he became so breathless they had to put him back in the wheelchair while Hana hooked him up to a nasal cannula with oxygen. He gasped for breath while Grandmother scolded him furiously, continuing until he caught his wind and told her to stop.

He gave both the boys a sad smile, still breathing rapidly, his face red-flushed with the exertion. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you this time. Jae, take Hana to see this vampire, and make sure he is who you think he is. Jae, you keep an eye on him. Report to me tomorrow. Hansol, you need to watch your brother. Don’t let him out of your sight. Do you both understand me?”

“Yes,” they replied, in unison.

“All right then.” 

Jae’s mother was at his shoulder. “Son.”

“Mom.” They exchanged a look of understanding as Grandmother wheeled Grandfather away toward the back hallway where the old people stayed. “Come on, let’s go see Taeyong.”

They descended the stairs to the basement, footfalls echoing on the wooden steps. Jae had always been scared of the large, dank basement. It was split up into several rooms, floored with old brown tiles and paneled with dark wood. As kids they had been convinced the basement was haunted by ghosts or monsters or worse. They didn’t know what was worse, but they could imagine it and refused to go down there. The mothers had tried to make a playroom in one of the room, with colorful chairs and shelves for toys, but since the kids wouldn’t go down there without an adult or older kid it remained mostly unused. 

Jae remembered going down there with his sister to get a toy he really needed. She’d raced ahead of him up the steps, shut off the light and slammed the door, trapping him in the dark basement. It had been one of the most traumatic experiences of his young life. She had held the door shut, laughing while he screamed his head off and pounded. It hadn’t been long before an adult had come and let him out, but it had felt like forever.

He’d known that there was another exit, stairs that led up to a door next to the house. The light switch was within his reach, all he had to do was feel along the wall, but there was nothing that could make him stick his hand out into that stygian darkness - into what waited there. He stood at the door and screamed.

An appropriate place for a vampire or two.

Jae led his mother into the playroom. Taeyong lay motionless on a cheerfully orange couch, arm across his eyes to block the light from a drunkenly leaning floor lamp. Old toys still lined the shelves, puzzles and wooden trains and the odd abandoned doll, with bare patches showing where some lucky plaything had been removed to a brighter home upstairs. Taeyong was so still he seemed to fit right into the place; he was a beautiful marionette put down by idle hands, another discarded toy.

“Taeyong.” Hana dared to reach out and move his arm. She spoke in the gentle voice that had coaxed a few generations of Jungs to do her bidding. “I’m Hana, Jae’s mom. I’m so happy to meet you again. Are you all right?”

Taeyong opened his eyes just a little, as if the light hurt them. “I’m tired,” He husked, but tried to smile. “Thank you for taking us in,” he managed, before shutting his eyes again.

“Hey. Wake up.” Jae poked him in the side, feeling the hardness of ribs under his fingers. “What’s the matter with you?”

But Taeyong didn’t answer, just pulled his arm over his eyes again. Hana beckoned Jae, and led him out into the main basement, shutting the door to the playroom behind her.. She let out her breath in a soft huff. “It’s really extraordinary. He hasn’t changed at all from back then. Even his voice sounds the same.”

Jae stared hard at his mother. “How do you know that?”

She smiled, sadly. “The pack leader may have sent your brother away, but there was nothing they could do to make me cut off contact with my own son. I would have gone with him to Korea, but Minhyun told me to stay; he said he was eighteen, and old enough to be on his own. Taeyong was your brother’s dear friend, and the leader of their small group. I went to visit them as soon as he was settled there. Who do you think took that photo?” Her dark eyes were like the ocean at night, holding memories and emotions that went deep beneath her placid surface.

“Mom. I think I don’t know you as well as I thought I did,” Jae said slowly. “I think we need to talk. But before that - I have to figure out what’s wrong with Taeyong, because it won’t be long before we have trouble with Jaemin if he doesn’t do something.” Jae had talked to Yuta as much as he could about Jaemin, trying to learn as much as possible about how to deal with him. This was back when the vampire had been more guilty and cooperative. He’d learned quite a bit about young vampires, and how they were difficult to control when they were hungry - and they needed to be fed, often.

“Can you ask that Yuta?”

“That guy isn’t being helpful. He just says they are no longer his problem.” Jae sighed, and pushed a hand through his thick hair. “I’m going to see the wizard. I’ll be back soon, hopefully.”

"Then I'll watch Taeyong until you return."

Jae dodged raindrops running across the dark street, feeling the heat rising up from the concrete through soles of his thin sandals. It was past midnight, so it was a gamble that the wizard would even be home, but he texted him a quick message before he knocked on the door.

_ Johnny, answer the door. I need your help with something. _

He watched bugs flying around the porch light for a few minutes before he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Johnny opened the door and leaned against the jamb. He was clad in a pair of basketball shorts and a loose t-shirt with a wide collar, doing nothing to hide the fading yellow bruises around his neck. Ten's cat sat halfway down the steps behind Johnny, staring at Jae with piercing green eyes. “I bet this is gonna be good.” The wizard remarked, brown hair falling over his eye as he regarded Jae.

Jae returned his widest grin. To tell the truth, he enjoyed tangling with Johnny. It always ended up being something interesting. “Gonna ask me in?”

The taller man regarded him suspiciously. “I’m sure I’ll regret this. Come on in.”

 


	20. Chapter 20

Jae followed Johnny up to his flat, their footsteps hollow on the stairs. Jae hadn’t been in Johnny’s place since the night that Jaemin had gone missing. All the knocked-down items had been put right, and the place seemed cleaner in general than Jae remembered it being before. It was also very quiet, such a contrast from his house that seemed to always have tvs playing or people talking or music going in the background. Jae could hear the patter of rain against the front windows. It smelled nice too, like lemons and doughnuts and laundry detergent, along with the sizzling smell of magic that was always in the air when Johnny was around. Being a wolf shifter, he could also detect the sultry musk of sex still faintly present underneath the other odors. Jae fought the leer that wanted to come out on his face when Johnny paused in the kitchen and looked back at him.

_ No. This is not the right time to tease him about getting some. _

“Want a beer? I’ve got some Voodoo Ranger IPA in the fridge.”

Jae shook his head. “No, and you’d better not either. You’re gonna need to be sober for this?”

Johnny eyed the other man with annoyed resignation. “Shit. Well, come on and tell me what’s up.”

Jae felt tension leak out of his shoulders as settled back in the comfortable brown couch. Johnny sank down into the other end of the sofa and the cat hopped onto the window sill, sitting like a queen, observing everything.

Jae gazed at the cat with healthy respect. She twitched the tip of her black tail but remained otherwise motionless, eyes a lambent green. It was hard to believe that such a small and ordinary animal could grow to the size of a prehistoric tiger and send wolves tumbling from the swipe of a paw. He’d heard the stories of the confrontation from the Jungs that had faced the guardian spirit in Ten’s apartment parking lot. The city shifters had never faced anything like her before; they learned a good bit of caution from that fight. Now a week later, they were still healing from their brush-burns and dislocated limbs.

Just like the cat wasn’t what she seemed, neither was her master. Jae wondered if Johnny had come to terms with that. “Where’s Ten?” He asked with a lift of his eyebrow, looking around as if the dark haired boy would materialize. 

“He’s out. Elizabeth got ditched by a date, and she had tickets to see Odesza so she took Ten along.” Johnny sent a sidelong look to the cat. “So it’s just me and Kaya tonight.”

“Really? I’m surprised that still wants to hang out with Beth. I mean - she did lead Hansol to his door that night.” Jae couldn’t help sounding a little resentful.

“Ten isn’t mad at Elizabeth. He understands why she wanted to help the person she likes.” a dry smile flickered around the wizard’s lips as he watched for Jae’s reaction. “And he really wanted to go to the show. So. Do I have you to thank for the fact I’m alone tonight?”

“Ahh. Yes?” Jae’s grin was a challenge.

“Great. Tell me what’s happening.” Jae quickly gave him a synopsis of the nights events, telling how Yuta had cut Taeyong and Jaemin loose and how he had taken them in. “We don’t have that long until Jaemin needs to be fed. We don’t dare feed him from one of us, not without another vampire to supervise that he doesn’t get out of hand. Taeyong is just laying there and he won’t get up and I need him to help Jaemin. Can you come and look at him?”

Johnny’s brows had drawn down and he was looking at Jae like he had lost his mind. “Hell, no. What do you think, I’m some sort of vampire whisperer? I don’t know how to doctor sick vamps. And should we not mention that’s the same damn guy who tried to off me last week!”

Jae leaned toward the other man, his expression earnest. “All that’s true, it’s really true. But they are in my house now and I have to make sure the people in the house are as safe as I can make them. If I can’t get Taeyong to wake up I’m gonna have to put him and Jaemin somewhere else - and if that happens I know Jaemin’s parents are going to go with him. That’s a really bad place for them to be but I know they won’t listen if it gets to that point. And if Jaemin gets loose? Shit, Johnny, we can’t let that happen. On one hand he’s our Jaemin, a real nice kid. On the other hand he’s a blood sucking vampire who is stronger than any three of us and is likely to get really hard to handle when he gets hungry. Just come look at Taeyong and help me get him up. We really need him awake and functioning.”

Johnny was still shaking his head, not speaking. Jae wasn’t sure he was really listening.

“Did you go back to the club at all? I spent most of my free time this week with the vamps. They are really dangerous, but they aren’t complete monsters. They have their own family loyalties, and their own code of honor. At least, these do.”

Johnny looked at him skeptically. “Honor? They’re predators. That club is nothing but a honey trap to bring fools in.”

“But they don’t bite people against their will. They don’t hurt people, not really. Holly did, but she got what was coming to her. Yuta said that he’s had to get rid of more that one vampire who’s gone crazy like that.”

“Taeyong seemed more than slightly crazy himself.” Johnny snorted at his own understatement, crossing his arms over his chest. “You sure you want that guy awake?”

“He’s not gonna act like that again.” Jae was positive. He waved his hands for emphasis. “It was a kind of temporary insanity brought on by his pack instincts and all the blood everywhere. Now he doesn’t have anyone to protect but Jaemin - and I need him to get his ass up and do it, or we are going to have much worse trouble.”

Johnny seemed like he was thinking at least, his eyes unfocused as he stared down at the carpet. Jae considered what he knew about Johnny, and rubbed his bottom lip to hide a sly smile. “You don’t have to do it for free, you know. It’s wizard work. We can pay you. Or are you just gonna live off your rich boyfriend now?”

“Shut it, you ass.” Johnny bit his lip, worrying it between his teeth. “How much?”

“Fifty bucks an hour.”

“A hundred.” Johnny countered. “With a one hour minimum.”

Jae let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. He suspected he was getting by very cheaply. “Fine, you can send me a bill. Lets go.”

“Wait a minute. I have to get some stuff.” 

While Jae waited for Johnny to come down from the attic, he looked at Kaya. She returned his gaze neutrally. 

“You know,” Jae remarked in a low tone, “Those shifters you beat up. I know you could have hurt them a lot more if you wanted to, so - thank you.” 

She blinked slowly in acknowledgement, making Jae grin.

Heavy footsteps presaged Johnny’s arriving back downstairs. He was wearing a thick silver bracelet on his right arm, and holding a perfume bottle in his other hand. It was a purple glass rectangle without a label and a spray pump on the top. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Jae opened his mouth and closed it, staring at the bottle. “Ok, if you’re sure. I mean, gotta have your chanel number five…”

Johnny snorted. “Its a vampire sedative, idiot. A couple sprays of this and he’s going down.” 

“For real?”

“Of course. Come on, lets get this over with.” 

Jae got off the couch and followed the wizard to the steps. “Can I have some of that stuff? I think it would be really helpful for everyone if we had a way to handle the vampires if they got out of hand.” 

“No.” Johnny clutched the bottle to his chest possessively as he closed the door behind them. The rain was falling in sheets now, hissing on the pavement. A car went by, headlights blurred by the deluge. “This takes a long time to make. The ingredients are really expensive, too.”

“How about I buy some of that stuff,” Jae amended, with a winsome smile for the wizard. 

Johnny returned a crooked grin.“Hmm  ..maybe. Lets make a run for it!”

The two ran across the street as quickly as they could, feet splashing in puddles hidden by the darkness of the street. The rain was cold on Jae’s skin, and dripping from his hair by the time he reached his own front porch. He combed his hair back with a hand and glanced at Johnny. In the bright glow of the incandescent porch light, it was obvious that Johnny wasn’t even wet. There wasn’t even a drop of water on his shirt, not like Jae’s that was darkened with the smear of rain drops. “Why the hell are you dry?”

“Oh.” Johnny shrugged, as if this was no big deal. “Its the air elementals. After I called that one, they’ve been coming around. I think keeping me dry in the rain and stuff like that is their way of showing they like me...”

“Hmm.” Jae opened the door, and glanced back at Johnny, searching the air around him for the vague, cloudy shapes of the elementals.. “They aren’t coming in, are they? We have enough strange creatures in the house already.”

“No, they don’t like to be inside,” Johnny assured him, following him in. They both toed off their shoes at the door.

They passed the living room, hearing the echoes of an explosion coming from the sound system as a movie played unwatched on the large television.. Everyone but Jaemin and his family had dispersed for the night, and Hansol’s dark eyes followed them with an attention that Jae felt was judgemental. Hansol had been very taciturn about everything lately, much more than he usually was. It seemed like was just hanging around, waiting for Jae to make an inevitable mistake and then pounce.

Jaemin’s head whipped around to stare with a frenetic energy that almost made him fall off the couch; Hansol caught him by the collar and he strained against the hold a little, just a little.

“Ahh.” Johnny breathed out as Jaemin grinned at him, showing a predator’s teeth. 

“Yeah.” Jae agreed, exchanging a speaking glance with Hansol. 

“I guess you can buy some of this elixir. I’m not kidding that you will have to pay for it though, if I share I have to make more for myself. I’ll put some in a sprayer for you when we get back.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

They went down the basement stairs. Jae saw Johnny glancing around at the dusty stacks of old items, but neither of them mentioned how creepy the basement was. Jae opened the door and they entered the brightly colored playroom. Hana was sitting in the rocking chair and reading a child’s book she had taken off the shelf. “Thank you for coming,” She told Johnny, who nodded in reply. “He hasn’t moved at all since you left,” She told her son, closing the book on her lap. 

“We will take it from here, Mom.” Jae told her.

“Really?” She didn’t sound like she believed it. The way Johnny looked at him, it didn’t seem like he really believed it either. “Do you want me to send Hansol down to help?”

“We will be fine.” Jae couldn’t define why he was unshakably sure that Taeyong was no danger to him, or any shifter in this house. Maybe it was the way he had cried when he had seen Minhyun’s photograph - but Jae just couldn’t see him as a threat. Taeyong might hurt Johnny if he had a notion to - but if incurring Ten’s anger wasn’t enough to stop him, it looked like Johnny was more than ready defend himself. Taeyong would be stupid to try it, and the vampire had never seemed stupid.

“Well. all right.” Hana acceded reluctantly. “But I will be just up the stairs. Call out  if you need help.” 

When the door shut behind her, Jae went straight up to Taeyong and called his name. When there was no response, he smacked his cheeks gently, just trying to get a reaction. It looked like he winced slightly but there was no other response forthcoming. “See? He’s like this.” Jae glanced back at Johnny.

The wizard was standing still, with a look of focused intensity on his face that was very familiar. He was staring at Taeyong like he was a bomb and Johnny was trying to figure out how to defuse him. Jae had seen that look once before - and then he was hit with the most intense vertigo of his life. Johnny’s face looking like that wasn’t something that he was going to forget.

Satisfied that Johnny was already doing something, even if he couldn’t see it, Jae turned his attention back to Taeyong. The vampire really looked just like he was sleeping, with one hand curled behind his head and the other one splayed over his chest. Jae could barely detect the movements of his breaths, even with his enhanced eyesight; he wondered if such shallow breathing was normal for vampires. Did they even need air when they weren’t talking? 

Taeyong’s shut eyes were like smooth shells, and his lashes were spread dark against his pale cheeks. He looked very fragile, features sharp enough to break, the thin material of his t-shirt etching the hard fork of his ribs. He looked vulnerable, and Jae couldn’t stop sympathy from welling inside him. 

He glanced up quickly as Johnny took a step forward. “His aura is intact, but its energy is sluggish and weaker than before. He probably needs blood.”

“I was told vampires get more agitated when they need blood.” Jae disagreed,

“It’s worth a try. Give him some.”

“Me?” 

Johnny snorted. “I’m not going to.”

“Hey, you’re the one getting paid.”

“Not enough for that. Give it a try and If he won’t stop I’ll spray him.” 

Jae wasn’t really surprised that it came to this. Resigned, he pulled up a stool beside the couch and reached over for Taeyong’s necklace. Yuta had showed him this, too; how the narrow blade came out with pressure in the right places, and the best vein for a cut, usually in the bend of the elbow.

“Hold his head, Johnny. I don’t want any of his spit getting on me or I’ll probably fall asleep.” 

Swearing under his breath, Johnny did as Jae asked, shoving the purple perfume bottle into the waistband of his basketballs shorts. Jae pricked his vien on the first try; the blade was sharp and Jae’s hands were steady. The little sting of pain was nothing to him, and he slid the little knife back into its holder with a sharp snick as it locked home. Dark blood quickly began to trickle off Jae’s elbow. Johnny held Taeyong’s head and Jae pulled at the vampire’s lower lip, letting the blood drip on the vampire’s teeth.

Taeyong licked his red-smeared teeth and relaxed his jaw, allowing Jae’s blood to fill his mouth before passively swallowing. Jae squeezed his fist, causing the blood to run more rapidly, but even after a few swallows the vampire showed no signs of reviving. When the small cut began clotting off Jae sighed and leaned back, pressing on it with the thumb of his other hand. “That wasn’t it.”

“No.” Johnny stepped away, tilting his head as he observed Taeyong. The sizzle of magic itched Jae’s nose; he bent his abused elbow, scratching with his index finger, watching the wizard’s eyes slit at he focused. “Maybe we are coming at this the wrong way,” Johnny mused. “He’s physically whole. Drinks blood. Aura red as fuck and intact. The vampire part of him is working just like its supposed to - so it must be something else.”

“You think its the shifter part of him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Jae bit his lip pensively. Without conscious volition, his hand went out and smoothed back Taeyong’s soft hair. “There’s stories of shifters going into a  kind of shock state when they are ejected from a pack. Wolves have gone and lay down in the forest and starved to death when they are abandoned or left alone after a pack’s death.” Jae had never seen it himself, but he had heard of the lone wolf deaths by despair. It was part of why he was impressed by Elizabeth - that she was able to go on fearlessly, making her own way in life, even after leaving her flock. “It’s really hard for us to be alone, you know. We aren’t comfortable living as individuals.”

“Do you think that might be what it is?” Johnny frowned. “Even though you are taking him in?”

Jae cracked a smile, feeling fake as it pasted on his cheeks. “He lost his best friend and his family in one day, and now he’s alone in the world. At least a shifter knows why he feels the way he does; Taeyong wouldn’t remember or understand.” He felt a flush of heat in his chest, and a protective feeling he’d had before but never for someone outside of his family. “He must be so confused,” Jae added softly, too quiet for Johnny to hear.

“What do we do about it, then?” Johnny frowned. 

“Ahh. I don’t need magic for that. Go on upstairs. I can take it from here.”

“I hardly think that’s a good idea…” Johnny made a face like he smelled something bad.

Jae shrugged. “What’s going to happen? The worst would be he doesn’t wake up…”

“No,” Johnny huffed. “The worst would be he kills you.”

‘He’s not going to kill me.” Jae was calm. “But you can leave me the spray if you’re worried.”

Johnny’s fist tightened around the purple bottle. “Damn it, I told you we had to share it.”

“Then take it with you. I’ll be okay.”

“Idiot.” Johnny grabbed his wrist and slapped the heavy bottle into his hand. “I’m gonna go upstairs and write out my bill. I really don’t think that there is anything more I can do right now but give you this. So I’m going home - Ten will be back soon.” The tall man rubbed the back of his neck, his expression softening. “Text me if you need me.”

Jae smiled. “Its okay. Go ahead.” When the door closed after the wizard, the smile fell off his face as he glanced at the still form on the couch. “Sorry, Taeyong.” He said quietly. “It seems so obvious now, and it would have been obvious to all of us if we were seeing you as a shifter and not a vampire.”

Reaching out, he gripped Taeyong’s chin in his calloused fingers, turning his head from side to side. Jae’s face was thoughtful as he gazed at the smooth white neck. “It’s hard to figure out just how to do this, since you can’t shift anymore and I shouldn’t bite you. I don’t think a mouthful of vampire blood would be good for my health. Still, it’s going to be fine. I’ll adapt the process to suit our needs.”

Jae pulled at the collar of his t-shirt, then gave up and pulled it off, tossing it in the corner. His skin prickled with anxiety and excitement as he climbed up on the couch. He straddled the motionless black clad figure, balancing easily over the supine body with negligent strength. Bending close to Taeyong’s neck, Jae took a deep breath in. He smelled the metallic tang of blood and a certain sweetness, like meat just beginning to spoil mixed with the fragrance of dying flowers. Taking a grip in Taeyong’s soft hair, he pulled his head to the side and licked up the long line of his neck. He rubbed the skin of his own neck against him, sniffed again scenting his own musk, moving lower to lick and rub again.

When he moved to the other side of Taeyong’s neck, he heard the heartbeat under him jump and speed up. He laved the cool flesh with his tongue, over the collar bone, into the hollow and up the side of the neck, and slid his own skin there, leaving the scent behind. As he drew back to lick again, Taeyong shifted under him and pinpricks of pain bloomed in his own neck.

Jae let his breath out in a pant, letting the teeth hold him still. They didn’t go any deeper, but didn’t retract. 

“You know what I’m doing. You remember what this is, don’t you? You can belong to us.” Jae’s voice was low. “Just let go.” 

The body under him shuddered and the teeth pulled back. Jae found himself looking into Taeyong’s dark eyes, and smiled at him, trying to project confidence. Taeyong was blinking, seeming to be in the throes of some emotional upheaval; he tried to speak, but only a gasp came out. He was still shaking. HIs hands touched Jae’s bare shoulders, then lifted as if the skin there burned them.

“It’s okay. I’m almost done.” A few more long stripes on Taeyong’s neck, with sensual slips of skin against skin, and the white-haired man was steeped in Jae’s scent. The feeling of this was different with Taeyong awake; he couldn’t seem to hold still, and made little breathy sounds that were rather delightful to Jae’s ears.

“There.” Satisfied, Jae lifted himself up to stare down into Taeyong’s eyes. They were huge and dark, swimming with crystal that didn’t quite overflow to become tears. “C’mon, sit up here,” Shakily, Taeyong did as he was asked. Jae pressed close to his side, and gave him an encouraging smile. “Are you ready?”

Taeyong bit his lip, staring into Jae’s face.

“Say it with me if you can remember.” Jae collected himself, trying not to be nervous. This was the first time he had done this. He couldn’t forget anything. “Taeyong, you come to me today to become a member of my pack. Henceforth, your loyalty will be to me. No country, no employer, no former pack, no tie of blood or lover will come before me. Do you understand?’

“Yes, I understand.” Taeyong’s voice was shaking, his eyes locked on Jae’s face.

“Will you defend this pack with all your heart and all your strength, even with deadly force, even until death?”

The crystal broke in Taeyong’s eyes and trickled down his cheeks. “I will.”

“And do you agree from this day forth you will no longer bear the name of your former pack, you will be named Jung and that name will be given to all your issue?”

“I do.”

“And do you agree to share the fruits of your labors, the works of your hands and the material riches you possess, sharing alike in the prosperity and labor of all the members of the pack?”

“I do.”

“And do you swear to obey the leader and the elders, to share your wisdom and knowledge, and live among us in peace and love?”

“I do.” Taeyong whispered, voice cracking.

“So then from birth to death, as the seasons turn and the harvests are gathered,” Jae recited, hearing Taeyong’s soft voice reciting in Korean just under his, “From the bright hunt of the morning to the gray hunt of the evening, I will live my life a Jung. I will obey my leader and respect the elders, guard the pups and care for my age mates. I will be brother, father, son to every member, and they will be to me elder, age mate, precious child. I will teach and I will learn, I will serve and I will accept service. I will live and die in the arms of this pack.”

Jae smiled down at Taeyong, and wiped his tears with his thumbs. “As I accept your loyal oath, I will be the fire on the dark nights, the walls that guard you when the cold winds blow, the teeth and claws that protect you. You will always have a place at my hearth. My dear oath-son, Taeyong.” And Jae leaned forward and kissed Taeyong’s cool lips. “You are now one of us.”

Taeyong muffled a sob against his hand, and used the back of it to wipe his tears. Jae held his other hand, feeling a warm and protective contentment as he looked at his first oath son. 

“You’re going to be in trouble for that, aren’t you?” Taeyong tried to laugh, but he wasn’t quite able to pull it off.

“I don’t know. I’ll accept it, if I am, since its done.” Jae petted Taeyong’s head, smoothing back his hair. “I’ll take care of you from now on.”

Taeyong leaned into the touch. “I don’t need caretaking. But if you want.” His dark eyes met Jae’s again, full of naked longing. “You can. Anything you want.”

There was a crash from upstairs. Jae grabbed the purple perfume bottle off the stool where he’d left it. “Its Jaemin.”

“Oh.” Taeyong glanced at Jae, at the door, emotions all too visible on his face.

“Look - I’ll give him some of my blood. It’s too late to go find someone else - and I think you’ll stop him before he kills me. Right?” Jae slashed a grin at Taeyong. He pulled out a phone and texted Hansol. “Good. He’s gonna bring him down.”

Jaemin slammed the door back into the wall when he entered the room, breathless and flushed, and all too agreeable to an evening meal. It was a different experience to cut himself and then be sucked at, his body flooded with a tingling lassitude that felt amazing and relaxing. Jae flopped on the couch after Taeyong pried a hungry Jaemin off his arm, sternly ordering the boy to drink from Hansol next. Taeyong lectured the young vampire about his responsibility to make sure neither shifter had to give too much, though it seemed like Jaemin was too far gone in bliss to pay any attention. Hansol staggered out of the room after, a goofy smile on his usually set lips, and Jaemin relaxed into the armchair, picking up the children’s book that Hana had put down earlier. His frenetic energy was gone, and he again seemed like a young and innocent child.

“When does this wear off,” Jae groaned, feeling like he was floating as he forced himself to sit.

“A couple hours.” Taeyong’s gaze was tender. “Go to bed. I’ll… see you tomorrow?” His uncertain dark eyes asked so much. You will protect us? You will be here when we wake up? You will keep us safe through the day?

And Jae’s solemn gaze answered all,  _ yes. _

“We wake up at sunset.” Taeyong leaned over to kiss Jae’s cheek. “Good night.”

Jaemin hopped up as soon as Jae stood up, and he kissed him too. “Thank you for helping us, Uncle. Good night.”

Their lips left cool places on his face, shivery flowers that bloomed on his nerves until he reached the top of the stairs. Uncle Joon pulled the door out of his startled hands as he came out onto the main level. “What are you doing?” Jae yelped in surprise.

“I’m sleeping here.” Uncle shut the basement door, leaning against it. “I’m not letting those vampires come up to murder everyone.”

“Okay. Suit yourself.”

Uncle looked askance at the purple perfume bottle in his hand. “We have all this trouble, and you are concerned about cologne? What’s wrong with you. Seriously.”

Jae looked at the bottle, wondering if it worked on shifters too, before he shook his head and went to get a scant few hours sleep. “Okay, Uncle Joon. See you in the morning.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a direct continuation of chapter 17! I know I've messed up my timeline on this but I couldn't do the whole thing in flashbacks it just got too heavy. Chapter 18-20 was set a week ahead of the time this chapter starts. By the end of 22 they will all be on the same timeline again. I will probably go back and fix this when im done with this fic but for now bear with me.

Though Johnny had plenty of experience in relationships, none of them had been particularly world altering. There had been his first time, which had just been an awkward experience with a girl in the dorms of Michigan Academy; then his long time crush on Taeil with nothing to show for it but one drunken kiss. On the rebound from that, there had been multiple hookups and one summer a guy that he might have been able to fall in love with, but he was a normie so there wasn’t anything to do other than enjoy the summer and let him go. All through boarding school there had been Ivy, a girl two years older that he’d liked but she’d seen him as a younger friend. When she came back to the academy as a teacher, they’d become sex friends for a while. They’d even tried dating once, but that had been such a failure they gave up and decided to keep the distance and the friendship. The next guy she dated, she moved in with and was going to marry. Johnny would probably go to the wedding. His ennui about the Michigan Academy had spread everywhere throughout his life. He didn’t pursue anybody since he didn’t see anyone that was worth the effort. He didn’t even really care. 

It was another fake. There was no Romeo and Juliet. No ride or die. Nobody crawling up the arbor to sneak through his window. 

He was already used to girls flirting for attention, arching their backs and touching his forearms if he didn’t respond quickly enough. Guys were more direct, checking out his ass and asking if he wanted to go for a drink.  _ Eat with me, play with me, sleep with me, _ they asked him seductively, a changing round of pretty faces, alluring voices, arms outstretched - but it was all missing something, and he didn’t even bother to say,  _ No.  _ He just ignored them, reading his books and playing his music. They weren’t enough. He needed something more.

The more had stepped into his life in a oversized t-shirt glowing like a beacon, overwhelming Johnny’s indifference and apathy with his sizzling smile and the mystery in his eyes. Ten, from the beginning, had been  _ more. _

So maybe this was what he deserved. A prince of the darkness on his lap, a creature of fire with baby-soft skin and strong small hands, undoing his zipper with a wicked smile that was like a fucking heat wave. “Don’t worry Johnny, I’ll make you feel good,” Ten promised, the edges of his mouth curling up in a smirk as he pressed a palm to Johnny’s groin, feeling the outline of his erection. “I’ve done this to myself, and I’m sure you aren’t much different.”

It was nice, the feeling of that pressure on his cock, tendrils of pleasure already stroking his nerves. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it. But Ten was there in his hands, beautiful and erotic like a feast for a starving man and Johnny was too damn hungry. He was hungry enough to forget about waiting for the pleasure to come to him and reach out for it instead, take it because he wanted it. 

Ten looked up with surprise as the taller man pulled his hand away. “Did I do something wrong?”

“We’re not in a hurry.” Now Johnny wore his own sly smile.  _ Do you think you won?  _ His large hand curled around Ten’s smaller one, bringing those fingers up to press against his lips. Kisses turned to licks as Johnny mouthed them, barely holding himself back from biting those delicate fingertips.

“No- not a hurry.” Ten said, eyes softening with arousal.

“Then let me.” Johnny leaned into Ten - not rough, but handling him with firm assurance. Johnny’s hot breath slid over the slender column of Ten’s neck as his greedy fingertips and palms glided up underneath Ten’s shirt.

He wanted to taste every inch of that skin. Under his lips, there was the hot sweetness of Ten but underlaying that was the electric sizzle of magic, so subtle but still a quiver in the space between their skins, every place they touched. 

“Take this off,” Johnny growled, pulling Ten’s t-shirt up between them. Playing at obedience, Ten held his arms up and allowed himself to be disrobed, holding Johnny’s hips tight between his thighs as he arched into his hands.

“John-”

“Mmm.” Johnny slid a hand into that soft dark hair, his nose following after, breathing in the scent of shampoo mixed with the metallic taint of the Darkness. Ten’s hands were on his back, but he didn’t mind where Ten’s hands were. His lips were travelling over those soft eyebrows, and he traced the line of Ten’s ears with his tongue, pausing to bite at his neck. The feel of that firm skin between his teeth was too delicious; he gnawed gently, feeling Ten suddenly tremble in his grip.

It reminded Johnny that Ten was in his arms, not just this body he’d been wanting for a month now, but that made the whole thing almost more exciting. Who knew what Ten would do, or would let him do? How long could Johnny keep control before Ten took it away?

His hand still in Ten’s hair, he gently forced his head back to bite at the underside of his jaw and Ten actually made a noise that sounded like a whimper before he caught himself.

“Its okay,” Johnny husked, his hand sliding against Ten’s ribs, pressing him close as he sucked into the place where he’d bitten. It was so good to feel that smooth skin resisting the pull of his mouth as he moved around Ten’s neck to the other ear. “I like to hear anything you want to say. Words. Not words. I want to hear it all.” He still held Ten arched back, the smaller man’s hand gripping his wrist; he licked up his jawline until he reached his chin, then pulled his head back down to slide his tongue into Ten’s mouth.

Ten still tasted a little like brandy. Johnny’s tongue stroked his, hot and insistent, and Ten made another soft sound that wasn’t quite a moan. When Johnny pulled back Ten was breathless, cheeks flushed with red, and all Johnny could think about was how that body would feel under his.

“Hold on.” Ten’s arms and legs tightened on Johnny as he rose up enough to twist them, putting Ten on his back on the couch. He bent over him, knees between his legs, but paused at Ten’s tight grip on his shirt. “What?”

“Take yours off too. Its only fair.” Ten’s voice was husky, deeper than his usual tone. The way Ten looked at him, his half-lidded eyes hot with desire, only made Johnny hungrier, .

Johnny yanked off his shirt and tossed it in the corner. 

“Ooh Johnny. Your body’s so pretty,” Ten breathed, squirming as Johnny’s tongue pressed into his nipple. “Such nice shoulders and -” he gasped as Johnny sucked, tounguing over the small fleshy nub. “-abs. What are you doing to me? It feels - mmm…”

Johnny licked each nipple until they were pink and shining, flicking his tongue to make Ten writhe then raised his head to kiss Ten again. It felt amazing to feel Ten’s body beneath him, with his perfect mix of softness and hardness; it felt even better when he arched up like that, clutching at Johnny’s shoulders.

“Let me touch you too.” Ten whispered up at him, looking so messed up and sexy in the dim lamplight, lips wet, long neck covered with bruises to match Johnny’s. Just the sight of him sent a surge of arousal through Johnny, going straight to his dick, and his hips moved without much conscious thought, grinding into Ten’s groin.

Johnny smiled lazily, enjoying his gasp of surprise, and shook his head. “You can touch me next time. Tonight is mine. Can I take the rest of your clothes off?”

Ten smirked, glinting up at him. “Do it.”

Johnny’s hands stroked along his flanks to reach his plaid sleep shorts. This time it was Johnny palming Ten’s erection, watching him shudder against the couch as he traced the shape, moving his fingers along the rigid outline.

“Seriously this is not like doing it myself,” Ten half laughed, half groaned. He lifted his hips up as Johnny pulled the waistband of his shorts, dragging the rest of his clothes down his legs. “Its … so much better.”

“I regret telling you to talk,” Johnny murmured, mouth quirking up as his avid hands engulfed the sharp curves of Ten’s hip bones, sliding through the curled silk of dark hair to encircle his cock. The hardness was sheathed in blissfully soft skin, flushed a bashful pink; of course it looked beautiful.

“How do you like my body, Johnny?” Ten was still smiling, his hot grin matching his feverish gaze, dark hair mussed on his forehead.

“You’re lovely.” And Johnny stroked him, his long-fingered hands immediately pulling a long gasp from Ten’s lips. “I’m going to explore every inch of you.”

“Uh. That’s going to take so long,” Ten complained breathlessly, lifting his hips to meet Johnny’s hand, catching his bottom lip between his teeth at the feeling. “Can’t we do that later?”

Johnny wanted to tell Ten no, but the sight in front of him was making him feel like he didn’t want to wait. Ten’s breath was coming faster, his hands gripping the edge of the cushions, his hips moving to Johnny’s rhythm. Instead of speaking, he leaned over and licked around the head of Ten’s cock, the smooth soft skin hot under his tongue.

Ten’s breath exploded out of him, but he didn’t say anything as Johnny explored, mouthing up and down his length before taking him between his lips for a few strokes with his tongue. Ten’s body stiffened under him as he moved his head experimentally as Ten gasped sharply through half-open lips.

Johnny was very aware of his own cock, pressed against the couch cushions and sending electric beats to his brain. It was just enough. He backed off Ten, coating him with spit until he was slick and wet, then leaned back, shoving his boxers down. “Now you get on top.”

Smiling avidly, Ten crawled up on him, the feel of his soft skin sliding on Johnny’s whole body like a stupefying caress that made Johnny shut his eyes to keep his composure. Ten’s hand curled around him, and it was like honey flowing hot along his nerve endings, sweet fucking bliss. Without saying anything, he put his large hands around both erections and looked into Ten’s wide eyes. “We’ll do it like this.”

“Yours is touching mine…”

“Yeah.”

Johnny caught his breath as they slid together, sensitive and erotic, making him yearn for more. He wanted it harder, tighter, wetter… But Ten was an absolute beginner and this would have to be enough. Ten let out a muffled moan into Johnny’s shoulder and picked up the pace, hips rolling as he chased the pleasure. The old couch creaked at the motion. Johnny’s body was aching, his skin warm and tingling from Ten’s skin sliding against him, his arousal burning hotter as Ten shuddered. Every stroke was plucking a vibrating string inside him, getting deeper and deeper, a rumbling bass building up a pressure that wanted to explode.

‘Feels good,” Ten hummed low in his throat. He shut his eyes, biting his lip, his chest flushing pink. Just watching Ten do this was amazing. He kept his hands loose, not wanting this to end too soon.  When he started uttering helpless little moans it was more than Johnny could endure, and when he gasped, “Johnny,  _ please”  _ then that was it.

He increased the pace, making Ten whimper as he stroked them in an unrelenting rhythm. Johnny’s breath came faster as he chased his orgasm in the delicious thrust and slide of thier bodies, the bass notes pounding deep till his body was one shaking reverberation that spilled out, racing along his nerves in a crescendo. Johnny stiffened, neck arched back, the hot wire pleasure of release electrifying him down to his curling toes. Ten pressed his face into his shoulder, hands gripping, shuddering as their cocks surged, pumping together as they both came.

The delight lingered, slowly dripping out of Johnny’s body as his pounding heart quieted down. Ten was quiet and still against him, his own heartbeat still shaking his slim body as he lay sprawled over Johnny.

Johnny’s was heavy with exhaustion. He knew that if he didn’t move now he wouldn’t move till morning, and he really didn’t want to sleep on the couch with cum on his chest. “Ten?”

“Mm.”

“Lets shower.”

“Mm.”

With great effort, he sat up, bringing Ten with him. “Come on.”

There was hot water, a slippery Ten beside him, his smiles breaking with yawns. Johnny ached with fatigue, and the pain in his neck; both of which had been somehow absent before, pushed out of his brain by the urgency of lust. He barely was able to brush his teeth and stagger to bed, joining an already snoozing Ten. He snuggled against the warm body beside him, brushing Ten’s wet hair away from his face. The air conditioner blew cold above him, and heat rose off Ten’s body, along with some sort of theta waves that Johnny could not resist. Of course he fell asleep immediately.

“Ryaaaa! Wuuu-uuuuu. Wuuu-uuuuuu.”

The sound of too-loud sobbing snatched layers of soft sleep from Johnny’s brain, leaving him awake but confused as to why. He tensed at first, finding himself cuddled around a warm smaller body, but then he relaxed when his sleep muddled brain realized it was Ten. He let out a slow breath, feeling his muscles loosen as he remembered why Ten was there.

The rain fell outside, gently pattering against the walls and the roof, the melody of the drops a soporific. Ten’s breath was soft, barely discernible except where his exhalations warmed Johnny’s hand, tucked half beneath his pillow.  

“Owwowwwow! Nyaaaaaah! Uwwuuuuwooo.”

Johnny was half expecting it, and didn’t jump this time though his heart did speed up a bit. What the hell was making such a godawful racket? He stared through the slit of his eyelids toward the window, brightening with gray dawn.

With a breathy sigh, Ten’s warmth slid away from Johnny’s side. The dark haired boy carefully plucked Johnny’s heavy arm off his body and placed it on the bed, then covered his supine lover gently with the blankets. He rose gracefully to his feet and padded to the window. Pallid light trickled through the raindrops streaming down the glass, painting his nude body in rivulets of silver and pewter and opal. He lifted a hand to the windowsill, eyes gray with the reflections of rain.

Johnny let his vision play up and down Ten’s body, his chest aching at how beautiful Ten was, pale skin dripping with the colors of rain. His eyes traced the long lines of Ten’s legs, brushing the concavities at his hip bones and sliding up the smooth lines of his abdominals where they met the cage of his ribs. The marks Johnny had made were visible on that perfect, baby soft skin - there on the shoulder, there on the neck, fading guilty evidence of the night before. Lean muscles strained under that skin as Ten wrenched the window up, and pushed the screen open after that. 

Johnny worriedly noted his peculiar actions, heart beating faster as he heard a loud scrabble from the roof. A black shape hurtled over the windowsill and landed with a thump on the floor. Ten clapped a hand over a laugh. “Shh.” He cautioned, leaving one finger at his lips, while the other one wiggled at the black shape. 

Kaya sat at his feet, looking skinny and bedraggled with her dark fur dripping onto the wood floor. She made a quiet hiss.

“I’m sorry, I was asleep.” Ten whispered, sotto voce. “Now be quiet, you’ll wake up Johnny. I’ll get you a towel.” He closed the window as soundlessly as he could, and tip-toed out of the room.

Johnny quickly shut his eyes on his sense of relief. He’d been nervous for a moment there, and now he felt stupid. Of course that sound was just the cat howling. She’d been out all night - and some how she had made her way from Ten’s apartment to Johnny’s house in the rain. He didn’t need magic to know the cat was wet and angry, and he was smart enough to want no part of that.

Ten’s bare feet were almost inaudible on the hardwood as he returned, but the sounds of fluffing and rubbing were accompanied by the occasional chuckle, so Johnny had to look. Kaya was less pitiful and more funny, fur flat in some places and toweled into spikes in others, but he knew better than to laugh at the familiar. Ten left to wash his hands of clinging dark fur before crawling back into bed, smiling into Johnny’s open eyes. Wordless, he folded himself against Johnny’s warm and relaxed self, nuzzling into his shoulder, hand tucking in between the bed and Johnny’s flank. Kaya jumped up, turning once to settle in the corner of the bed. Johnny pulled the cover up over Ten’s neck, and used his foot to nudge it over the cat’s back as well. She stared at him, blinking green eyes, then closed them. 

The rain continued to fall, and they all went back to sleep.

When Johny woke up again, it was to a crack of thunder that made him jump and knock into Ten. 

“Ow,” Ten complained halfheartedly, and slid close again.

“Ah, dammit.” Johnny groaned. It was gloomy in the room, since the rain was coming down harder now. His air conditioner wasn’t running. His bedside clock was dark. “The power must be out because of the storm. I am pretty sure I paid the electric bill.” He picked up his phone from the nightstand and checked the time. It was past noon. “I missed class, too.”

Ten sighed against his shoulder, eyes still closed. “Maybe it’s for the best. If you go out in this kind of weather you’ll probably get sick.”

“Oh, yeah?” Smiling, Johnny tightened his arm around his bed partner, sliding him closer and watching as his dark, lustrous eyes blinked and opened. “Have you ever been sick?”

“No.” Ten seemed to be disappointed to admit it. “Rain won’t make me sick, but I don’t like to be in it too long. Remember?” He tapped Johnny’s chest softly. “We are creatures of fire.”

“Her too?” Johnny shot a look at Kaya, who was sleeping curled around herself. He felt Ten’s nod, his soft dark hair brushing Johnny’s cheek.

The room lit up with a sizzling flash and thunder boomed outside again. “Ooh. That’s close,” Johnny murmured into Ten’s hair, and tried not to laugh as Ten’s hand roamed down his side, tickling.  

Ten yawned, lips brushing Johnny’s shoulder. “Maybe we should just go back to sleep.”

Johnny cleared his throat, trying not to be too aware of Ten’s fingers gliding, brushing down his hip now. “Are you hungry?”

“Mmm. Sorta.” And Ten was kissing his chin. Soft lips, soft kisses sent a shiver of arousal across Johnny’s nerves. Who gave a damn about morning breath when there was this incredible warmth beside him, eyes that twinkled darkly into his and willing arms circling his neck.

Johnny was deep into Ten’s mouth when the lightning struck again, this time with the roar of an explosion. Car alarms began going off in a cacaphony of sound. Ears ringing, Johnny staggered to the window with Ten beside him as they peered out through the streams of rain.  The lightning had struck a fire hydrant, right in front of the house next door. Water was fountaining up in the street, high enough that Johnny could see it even between the curtains of raindrops

Ten stared at Johnny, eyes startled wide, then back at the spurting hydrant. Wondering why Ten seemed so shocked, Johnny unfurled his Sight and saw the residues of magic in the air, dissipating in a path between his house and the fire hydrant. He also saw curling pink energies in the shuffling ring of air elementals, at least ten of them, floating around his house. They were at the upstairs windows and it looked like they were waiting to get in, like a bunch of good dogs that wanted a bone.

He felt his heartbeat increase. He could read what happened in the air, like a time-lapse map.  “Shit. The air elementals - moved the lightning. It was going to hit the house and they moved it. Now they want ice cream.”

“They want you, I think,” Ten narrowed his eyes and stuck out his lip in a pout. “I’m jealous. They should know you’re mine.”

Standing there, Johnny just had to laugh, pulling Ten close to him. It was a pleasant thing to do, since niether of them were dressed and Ten was warm and soft, body pliant against his. “You can’t be jealous of little air elementals. C’mon, lets give them what they want. Being stuck in a house fire may not bother you, but it would have been a little inconvenient for me.”

Ten leaned into his side, yawning “Even if the whole place was on fire I could get you out, so don’t worry.”

Johnny mussed Ten’s hair, more troubled by the statement than reassured. “Come on, lets get dressed. I think I have some ice cream in the refrigerator.”

They talked a lot that day. Ten described his traumatic entry into the body he had now, and how it felt to be held into one shape and pressed to the ground, fitted seamlessly into a being of matter. How he’d learned to speak and read in Thailand, in a monastery that served the King of the Darkness, and eventually made his way to Detroit. When Johnny asked why again, he repeated that he needed to be near the curtain.

“So your father can keep track of you?”

Ten looked away evasively. “Something like that.”

Johnny consciously threw away all the assumptions he’d made to create his story of who Ten was. He’d made excuses for his half-truths and circumventions, and made everything fit his narrative of who Ten should be. Now his eyes were opened, and he was paying attention to what Ten would talk about and what he wouldn’t, when he was garrulous and when he became silent. He’d been trained in this; questioning without questioning. Observing. Remembering. It was meant to apply to interrogating a witch, but it applied just as well to Ten.

“Can your father keep track of you through the curtain?”

Ten lurched into Johnny, pressing his lips hard in a sudden kiss that was distracting enough to shut him up. “Lets feed Kaya. She’s hungry.”

Johnny touched his stinging lips, and watched as Ten scooped the possibly sleeping cat off the couch.

It was currently after midnight, and they had let the intense discussions of earlier lighten up to watching the comedy channel and eating a delivery pizza.

Johnny’s phone buzzed. He picked it up, and looked at the number incredulously. HQ?

“What’s the matter?” Ten spoke with his mouth full of pizza.

Johnny shook his head, the phone still vibrating in his hand.“You know, being attacked last night was traumatizing for me, and I expect those damn vampires to respect that - at least a little! Like what the hell would anyone from that place say to me? They better not be expecting me to come and dj there this weekend!”

“Don’t answer?” Ten watched him curiously.

“Hmmph.” He answered it just because he couldn’t imagine what it might be about. 

It was Yuta himself, voice low and stressed. “John, I’m calling for Ten. Is he with you?”

“Yeah, Ten’s here. Just a minute.” Johnny held out the phone, then pulled it back. “Nah. Napkins first.”

Ten grinned and wiped his fingers with a napkin before taking the phone. “Hello? Yuta?” Ten’s expression darkened as he demanded, “Who came?” His face changed again when he heard the answer, all emotion falling off to leave him expressionless, eyes blank like shuttered windows. He murmured, “Yes. I’ll be there right away.” and ended the call.

Ten gave the phone back to Johnny. Something had changed in the air between them; it was strange and awkward suddenly, with Ten looking at the floor, making no moves to finish his pizza. The TV chattered with the comedy they were watching, bland and raucous laughter feeling very out of place. Johnny clicked the remote to turn it off.

“What did he say.” It was more of a demand than a question.

“Ah.” Ten was gripping onto the hem of the t-shirt he’d borrowed from Johnny, fisting the cloth in his hand so tightly his knuckles went white. “I have to go to the bar. Someone - has come.”

“Who came?” Johnny made his voice gentle, in keeping with the distress Ten was obviously feeling. 

“My sister.” Ten finally lifted his face to meet Johnny’s eyes. His smile was so taut it looked like it hurt. “She’s Eight. But she calls herself Hatchi. I told you last night about my sisters, and how they are the mothers of the wizards, the vampires, and the shifters. Hatchi is the mother of vampires. She’s Yuta’s mother.”

Averting his eyes again, Ten stood up and picked up his plate and glass. He looked too small in Johnny’s clothes, like a child playing dress up, bare legs pale and vulnerable as he walked to the kitchen to put his dishes in the sink.

Johnny followed him, unnerved by the silence. “So, what does this mean? Are you going back? I have hardly come to terms with you being a prince of the darkness. I need more time to get used to it. You can’t go back yet.” Johnny was trying to be lighthearted, but a hint of desperation came through in his tone.

Ten looked up at him, eyes softening as they rested on Johnny’s face. “Look - here.” he dug in his pocket, pulling out the keys to the red convertible. “I want to give you this. I know you really like the car and in case I can’t be there, you can drive it this summer like we planned.”

“Nope.” Johnny took a step toward Ten, wrapping him with his long arms and trapping the hand with the keys between them. He could feel the bones beneath the wiry muscles of Ten’s torso, the delicate and human body under his hands. They breathed the same air, and each had hearts that beat and pumped blood; in moments like this, it was hard to believe that Ten wasn’t human. “We’ll drive it when we get back. Don’t start giving your possessions away yet, ok? You don’t know what’s going to happen. Lets go and convince her to let you stay.” 

The look Ten gave him was dark and sorrowful. He seemed on the edge of saying something more,  but then he just nodded in agreement. 

They took Johnny’s jeep to the bar. Ten slid his hand into Johnny’s, neither of them saying anything, just listening to the squeak of the windshield wipers and the hiss of the tires splashing through puddles. Johnny held that warm hand carefully, ignoring his own anxiety to look after Ten’s. The ride was short, but it was long enough for Johnny to admit the truth to himself. He wanted to keep Ten, selfishly, despite all he knew and didn’t know about him.

A single light was on above the main door of the bar. Nobody answered Johnny’s knock, so he took the metal handle in his hand and opened it. The some of the lights were on inside, just the ones back along the bar leaving the rest of the place dim. Chairs were upside down on tables, the air smelling peculiarly of cleaning products and old incense. 

Yuta, elegant in casual clothes, and a blond woman dressed in chic black were sitting at he bar. The door boomed shut behind them as Ten and Johnny approached; the walk to the bar had never seemed so long, even though the distance was shorter than it seemed when the place was packed with people. They had walked in here just the night before, when everything was dark and the only light was Ten’s soft glow. It seemed that there had been a cataclysmic shift in the world since then - or maybe only in Johnny’s world. It was suddenly so much more beautiful and frightening than it had been before.

The blond woman approached Ten with a smile, trailing her luminescence like a cape that evaporated in wispy tendrils behind her as she moved. She was big, and bright; nobody with the Sight could think that she was anything but an enormously powerful witch, confident enough to wear her aura like a neon sign. It was intimidating as fuck. Johnny had to steel himself to keep from stepping backwards.

She was gurgling with laughter as she looked Ten up and down. “ _ TEN! _ Oh my gosh, so cute, so fresh and young. Just look at you. I was hoping you would be a female, I cried when I heard you were another boy, but you are fine like this too. I should have figured father would do his best for you.” And the two were hugging, Ten smiling in delight at her reaction. Light winked off the jewels on her manicured fingers as she held her brother close for a moment more, pressing her tan cheek softly to his. When she leaned back she tsked as she looked him up and down again. “You look like a ragamuffin. I will take you shopping, if there is a place in this god forsaken hell hole to buy anything worthwhile.”

Ten frowned in confusion, staring into her face. “Aren’t you here to take me home?” Ten asked, gripping his own arms as if he was cold. Johnny felt himself holding his breath for the answer.

Hatchi tilted her head, eyes sparkling with dark malice as they darted from Ten to Johnny. “Oh, what a lovely speaking voice you have! And your accent is adorable too.” She left him hanging for a few moments, sliding a finger over a filigreed bangle on her wrist. Finally, she sighed and shook her head. “No. You aren’t going anywhere. And neither am I.” There was a poignant look of regret on her face for just a moment, before she turned to Yuta with a bright and cheery smile. “I’ve missed my darling Yuta, my own dear son. I’ll stay with him for a while.”

Yuta quickly schooled his expression, but there was no doubt he was shocked. “Mother, there must be a - more comfortable place -”

Hatchi was patting Yuta on his shoulder, smiling. “No, no. I want to spend some time with you. Its been a long while since I’ve seen you, hasn’t it?”

“Half a century, probably,” Yuta was expressionless.

“So don’t we have a lot to catch up on?” The sweetness in her voice didn’t ring true with the dark glint in her eyes. “There is no better chance.  _ Tempus fugit, _ my son.”

Yuta looked askance at her, daring to sound a little sharp. “You’ve never been interested in what I was doing.”

“Well, now I am.” She stated sharply, obviously expecting that he would fall in line with her wishes without protest. “Prepare a room for me.”

There was a slight twitch of the elder vampire’s mouth. “As it happens, we have one available.”

“Ten and I will go look at it.” Hatchi met Ten’s gaze. He gave a little nod and led her to the back door, where they both passed into the rear of the buiding.

Yuta watched them go, sliding a hand over his neck like it was aching. He sighed, and waved a negligent hand to invite Johnny to sit at the bar. “Want a drink? I need one.” 

“Ah. Just a coke.” 

Johnny watched the vampire’s hands as he poured, amazed at how quickly they moved, much faster than a human’s. Within seconds Yuta was sipping on a brandy, staring at the rear door as he held the tumbler in a vise-like grip. He turned his attention to Johnny after a moment of silence. “Are you feeling ok, Johnny?” Yuta asked graciously, remembering his manners.

“I’m fine.” Johnny sighed, tasting his own drink. Just coke. That was fine.

“Its a mess. God.” Yuta groaned, dropping his head into his hand. “How am I going to deal with having  _ her _ here for who knows how long?” 

“Who knows. It might be nice,” Johnny tried to cheer him up, then thought about how he would feel having his mother show up to live with him. “Well. She might not stay for long.”

“Well, lets hope she won’t.” A smile glimmered on Yuta’s lips, making him look suddenly warm and approachable. “I sound like a terrible son. But you don’t know her like I do.”

“Hows Jaemin?” 

Yuta pressed his lips together. “He’s with Sicheng. He’s doing well, his mind is intact, and he has gone to visit his shifter relatives. I wanted both of them out for … This, whatever it is. I revived Sicheng first thing when I woke and found Hatchi was here.”

“Is Sicheng - intact?” Johnny remembered the vicious wounds the two vampires sustained, but still wasn’t completely surprised at Yuta’s nod.

“We’re technically not alive. All we need is a fresh infusion of blood to feed the magic that keeps us animate.” Yuta stared at Johnny, his eyes critical. “You should know more about vampires if you are a journeyman wizard.”

“I - nevermind.” Blowing a breath out, Johnny ran a hand through his hair. Everyone had something to say, even this damn vampire. “What about Taeyong.” The name even made him uncomfortable. It was by sheer force of will that he didn’t raise his hand to his neck to poke at the bruises there.

“I promised Ten I would punish him, and I will.” Yuta’s lustrous eyes darkened. “Currently, he’s still out. I’ll leave him like that for a while. You should be satisfied, its very uncomfortable.”

Johnny pressed his lips into a straight line. Why did he feel like this guy was pissed at him? “Great. Glad to hear it.”

It wasn’t long before Hatchi and Ten returned. Hatchi immediately began nagging Yuta about making her a proper grasshopper, but Johnny was only seeing Ten. As soon as Ten’s eyes met Johnny’s, his face became as dark as a raincloud. Black tears seeped into his eyes, and he couldn’t blink them back fast enough to clear them. Johnny saw how he struggled to press down his emotions, putting a fake and trembling smile on his face, closing his eyes and opening them again to clear the tears away. Hatchi saw it too, but she didn’t react to it at all, continuing to exchange with Yuta. 

“Look it up in your book. You have a drinks book there, don’t you?’ Imperiously, she waved at Yuta and Ten. “Make me my drink. This is a bar, isn’t it?”

Yuta seemed like he couldn’t flee behind the bar quickly enough. Ten followed more reluctantly, his eyes lingering on Johnny, knowing damn well that his sister was purposely separating them. 

She crooked her finger at Johnny, leading him just a few steps away from the bar. Johnny crossed his arms and looked down at the woman. There were deep currents running under the placid surface of this family reunion, and he was afraid he was good and trapped in the undertow. “Do you have something to say to me?”

The side of her mouth lifted. “Are you lovers?” 

Her smirk deepened when his eyes widened in surprise at her question. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” he replied stiffly, refusing to be intimidated by her powerful presence.

She laughed, dark eyes glinting in her tanned face. “A baby wizard and a baby devil. So cute. Can I give you a word of advice?”

“About what?” Johnny struggled to sound neutral. He didn’t want to offend her, but he wasn’t feeling comfortable pinned under the weight of her dark gaze. She was no taller than Ten, but she was worldly and formidable in a way that made Johnny feel small.

“You.” She sighed, lazily twirling a lock of blond hair around a finger, her eyes moving to the bar where Yuta was showing Ten how to measure a drink. “I’ve had a lot of lovers in my life, and I’ve enjoyed that first flush of lust… But the only ones that could keep my attention were the ones that were powerful enough to take care of themselves and didn’t need to rely on me. If you want to keep Ten you can’t be a weakling dragging at his coattails.” There was a sharp edge of warning to her voice. “You need to be able to take care of yourself, Johnny Seo.”

“I…” Johnny didn’t know what to say in his own defense as a hot flush of embarrassment crept up his neck. He didn’t think to ask how she knew his name.

“Just an FYI. I don’t know if you want him long term or you’re just having a little fun.” Her smile twisted, her eyes still watching Ten and Yuta. “To tell the whole truth, they all bored me. My human paramours. My children. I left when the excitement went away. I didn’t know how to love them and I didn’t want to learn.”

“Why are you telling me this. Are you saying he’s like that?” This conversation was making him extremely uncomfortable.

“No, he’s nothing like me. That’s why he is everybody’s favorite.” With a clenched smile, she walked away to join the others, calling “Hey! Now that looks like a grasshopper!”

Ten came around the bar, passing Hatchi without a glance to catch Johnny by the wrist. “Lets go.”

Ten didn’t really speak when they left, staying rigid in his seat until they had driven a few blocks away, and even after his body slumped back, his hands still gripping each other tight enough to hurt. He didn’t volunteer anything, and Johnny didn’t want to press him, but he watched him with concern.

As soon as they got to the top of the stairs at home, Ten pulled Johnny into his arms without a word. He pressed himself into the taller man so hard it seemed like he was trying to not let an atom’s space fit between them. “I wish she never came here,” Ten whispered into Johnny’s neck. “I wish I…” But he didn’t finish, just exhaled in warm pants against Johnny’s  throat, holding him tight enough to bruise.

“What’s wrong?” Johnny gripped his chin, but Ten wouldn’t lift his head to the gentle pressure.

“I feel so terrible. I’ve never felt like this before. My chest hurts. My stomach feels sick. Ugh. I’m dizzy and strange. What the hell is wrong with my body?”

It took determination to peel Ten off him, while explaining what anxiety was and the purposes it served for human beings. He eventually had Ten wrapped in a blanket and in his lap on the couch, slowly relaxing as Johnny rubbed his back and explained how hormones worked.

“Epinephrine and norepinephrine take time to fade out of the body, so even past the point you want to fight or run away, you feel the effects of them on your systems. It happens all the time. Haven’t you ever woken up from a scary dream, feeling bad and unsettled for hours but don’t know why? It takes your body that long to break down those hormones.” He didn’t like seeing Ten this way, quenched and somehow diminished.

“I wish mine would hurry it up.” Ten murmured, head lolling on Johnny’s shoulder.

They listened to atmospheric music on Johnny’s phone, and soon they both fell asleep on the couch. Johnny woke up in the morning with his neck aching from being propped up on the couch arm for half the night. He poked Ten and they both staggered to the bed.

When the alarm went off, Johnny got up with a groan and went to take a shower. He was surprised when he got out and Ten was in the kitchen, proudly serving him a plate of eggos and a cup of coffee with whip cream on the side. “What’s this for?”

“An apology? Sorry about how I acted last night. You must have thought I was pretty dumb.” Ten gave Johnny his usual beaming smile. “Getting all worked up like a child.”

“Why were you so upset?”

“It was so silly of me, since I’m really happy I can stay with you.” Ten squirted a liberal amount of whip cream on his eggo. “This body is always showing me something new.”

“Something was really bothering you.” Johnny leaned his head on his fist, watching Ten as he munched on a forkful of eggos. “You can tell me. You should tell me.”

“You don’t have to worry. Everything is going to be fine, so lets enjoy every moment of our time together, OK?” Ten’s strange smile sent a shiver down Johnny’s spine. “ _ Tempus fugit. _ ”

Johnny backed off. “Thanks for the coffee. Its good.”

Ten returned a relieved smile. “I’m becoming a master chef.”

“That is so true.”

Johnny forgot his umbrella when he went to class. He was prepared to run, absolutely sure he would be a soaking mess before he arrived, but then found himself completely dry as an air elemental hovered over him, protecting him from the rain. He felt an absurd flush of pleasure as he sauntered casually down the soaked sidewalk, not part of the frantic mass of students hurrying to get out of the weather. “Extra scoop of ice cream for you tonight, ok?” He whispered to the elemental at the doorway of his building, and it twirled a little as it floated away.

He sat down in his government class and prepared to take notes. When the class began he dutifully wrote, but his mind was elsewhere. 

For some reason he couldn’t forget Hatchi’s words. Was he useless? Was he riding at Ten’s coattails? The whole reason Hatchi had come was indirectly because of Johnny. Maybe she was just mad about that.

But wasn’t it somewhat true?

He gnawed the cap of his pen until the plastic softened. When class ended he was surprised to see reams of notes on points he couldn’t even remember hearing anything about.

He walked back to the Jeep, dry except for his shoes.

When he got home that day, he unpacked the other box his mother had sent him with his ingredient supplies and his books. He set the apparatus up in the attic, after spooning out some strawberry ice cream for the elemental that had been kind enough to cover him during the rain. He just had the basic setup; beakers, flasks, burners, the whole damn chemistry set, ideal for making simple potions. 

The first thing he would make would be a vampire soporific. Ten was not going to have to protect him, not ever again. 


	22. Chapter 22

Johnny met Taeil at the coney island by his apartment. It was raining a little, with some sunshine struggling to break through but eventually losing to rainclouds. Johnny tucked his chin low against the wind, hurrying through the glass doors to the welcoming smell of coffee and flaming cheese.

He’d considered bringing Ten with him, but Ten had absolutely no filter and would be likely to say anything at all. So he dropped the dark haired boy at his own apartment and promised to meet him in an hour or so. Surprisingly, he  had seemed content enough with that. Johnny thought he would kick up a fuss at being excluded but it didn’t bother him. “I should water my plants,” Ten thought out loud, tapping his chin as they drove to the Riverview.

Those plants were dead for sure; Ten hadn’t gone back to his place in nearly a week. 

Taeil was already waiting in a booth by the window, a cup of coffee between his hands and the laminated menu open in front of him.  Johnny smiled warmly when Taeil looked up with his own grin. The older guy was nothing but conscientious, making sure he had time to see Johnny weekly, take him out to eat or bring him some groceries. Johnny appreciated it usually, but not so much now that he had something to hide. More specifically -someone.  He could only hope that he seemed the same to his older friend, and nothing happened to make the medical student suspicious.

Taeil looked better rested than usual, a sparkle in his dark eyes. “Hi, how are you?”

“I’m good.”

“You’re late, though.”

“You ought to expect that by now.”

“I didn’t say I was surprised.”

“You don’t look as zombie-like as usual.” Johnny opened the plastic-covered menu, perusing the offerings of burgers and hot dogs and pancakes.

“I actually got a full night’s sleep last night. Oh my god, dreamless slumber, what a lovely paradise.” Taeil smiled fondly at the memory, dark eyes glinting. “How about you? Have you been sleeping well?”

“Hmm.” Johnny couldn’t stop his mouth from quirking up on the sides. “Yes, I think so. Really well.”

Taeil leaned back, tapping his fingers on the table..  “Let me guess. Dark haired boy with the pretty eyes is a great sleep aid?”

Johnny made a noise. “How’s your girlfriend?”

“She’s still in love with me, I think.” Taeil smiled contentedly. “Aren’t you supposed to meet her sometime? Why haven’t I set that up?”

“You are afraid of all the stories I’m gonna tell.” Johnny decided on pancakes, and folded his menu back up. The wide silver bracelet he wore made a hollow clunking sound on the table.

Taeil gazed at Johnny’s wrist, then blinked and stared more intently. He looked up and met Johnny’s eyes, wearing a surprised expression. “Hey. Is that what I think it is?”

Johnny adjusted the bracelet on his arm. It was shaped a little imperfectly, but the edges were smooth and the etching was done by his own hand. If anybody looked at this piece of jewelery with the Sight, it would give off its own bright glow; it was a magical object, a repository of Johnny’s own power. “Yeah. I made it last week.”

“Hmm.” Taeil’s expression was quizzical. “So you are studying again?”

“Something like that.” Johnny shrugged. Taeil looked too interested, to the point where Johnny was feeling a little uncomfortable. Time to change the subject. “What are you ordering?”

“Hmm..” Taeil’s sharp eyes took in the fading yellow bruises on Johnny’s neck, the circles under his eyes from two nights of interrupted sleep, waking through the night  to complete the steps in the proper time for his vampire soporific. “Its funny. You have always been good at anything you set your mind to. Even fighting the academy - you were so good at that you got to stay a lot longer than the rest of us who gave in and did what we were told.” Taeil sighed. “You know the headmaster thought you would be one of the youngest Masters? I heard him say so. I really thought your mother would convince you to go that way… Though I wasn’t surprised that you didn’t.  You stuck your middle finger up at all their plans and that was pretty badass and awesome, classic Johnny.”

“Huh?” Johnny was surprised to hear all that from Taeil.

“You seemed pretty determined to quit, but here you are making magical items and whatnot for no apparent reason. Why? What are you are getting yourself into?.” He tapped his own neck, his expression demanding an answer.

“These are love bites,” Johnny gave Taeil a lazy wink. 

“You lie so much, Seo.” Taeil groaned.

“And what you just said is bullshit. Anything I can do, you can do better.” Johnny rolled his eyes. 

Taeil was suddenly solemn. “I could never be more than a journeyman. I had to study my ass off to do what came so easy to you.” He snorted. “I was always so jealous of your abilities in magic. It all just came so easy to you. You’re a natural.”

“Do you remember how long it took me to graduate?”

“We both know why, don’t we?” Taeil gave him a look of exasperated fondness. “If they said to make a potion by the book, you’d throw in some ingredients, get it done in half the time, and most of the time it would work almost as well. It was that  _ most of the time  _ and the _ almost  _ that they had to beat out of you. You really would have been a great warlock.”

“Taeil,” Johnny hissed, scandalized, as his friend laughed at his expression.

The waitress came up to the table, taking their orders. Johnny let himself bask in the happy feelings that Taeil’s warm words had given him. He took a sip of the bland dark coffee the waitress set in front of him. “What’s with all the flattery… old friend? Need a love potion for your girlfriend?”

Now it was Taeil’s turn to be offended. “Uh - no! No I do not, you asshat. Have you seen this face?” Johnny chuckled as the med student aggressively poured sugar in his coffee. After a short glare, Taeil’s anger wilted and he sighed. “There is something, though. I need a potion made for one of my professors.”

“Why are you asking me?” Johnny was slightly taken aback. “There’s professionals back in Chicago that do that kind of thing.”

“We don’t have time for that.” Taeil frowned, knitting his fingers and leaning his chin on the lattice. “My professor’s father is dying, very painfully, of cancer. He’s in hospice care. This professor is a distant relation of my mother’s. They shared a great-grandfather some time back, but as you know - magic follows the mother. This man has the advantage of knowing about wizards without being able to do any magic. He’s also been instrumental in helping me get into my residency. Are you picking up what I’m putting down here?”

“Yes, I get it.”

“He asked me if I could make something to take his pain away, just for the day, so the dying man could be clear-headed and say goodbye to the family. He’s on a heavy load of opioids - IV dilaudid, fentanyl patches. He’s so out of it when his pain is controlled he can’t really communicate, and when his pain is out of control he can’t do anything but moan and cry..” Taeil sighed heavily. “Shit, I haven’t made anything like that for six years, and even back then it didn’t turn out half the time. I wouldn’t know where to start, and I don’t have an apparatus or ingredients, and with my schedule there is no way I could hit the timing right for the steps. But you - if you were willing…”

“I know the potion you’re talking about. I could make it.” Johnny tapped his fingers on the table, irresolute. It was rather embarrassing to admit that his most pressing concern about taking on this job was that Ten wouldn’t like it. It made the dark haired boy sad when Johnny spent so much time alone in the attic, and wouldn’t allow Ten up there when he was working. He was too damn distracting.

“It would be a kind thing to do.” Taeil smiled at him, sweet and wholesome, in the exact way that Johnny couldn’t resist. “For my professor, and for me.”

It was obvious, though it remained unsaid, that most kindnesses came from Taeil to Johnny and not the other way around. When they were young Taeil had let Johnny play with his toys and his friends, drove him around when the older boy got his license, and never stepped back no matter what stupid shit Johnny was going through. And he never asked Johnny for anything in return.

“Ok. when? And it will be costly. You know this doesn’t come cheap.”

“Its got to be soon. You’ll have three or four days, tops. And you can pick any reasonable price. They know it won’t be cheap, it’s magic.”

“Then I’ll need a hair, or blood from the target person.” Johnny tapped his fingers on the table. “You sure they are ok with this? I don’t feel comfortable selling magic to normies.”

“They are related to us, its not the same. Here,” Taeil pulled out his phone. “I’ll show you my professor and his wife.” He flicked the screen to find a photo. “This was actually from the university Founder’s Ball last night.”

“You prick, why didn’t you ask me to come. I love a black tie gala.”

“Cause my girlfriend is better looking. Here.” He passed his phone.

Johnny blinked with sudden interest when he saw the picture was on a webpage. “Hey. This is on the Detroit News website.”

“Yeah, they had a photographer there. Lots of local bigwigs were at the party.”

Johnny had to snort a laugh at Taeil’s tuxedo, red silk bow tie and great big grin. His eyes flicked over the older man and woman next to him before they clamped on the fourth person in the photo. The shock of recognition made him curse under his breath. Her golden hair was in an updo, and she wore a red silk sheath dress and red lipstick. Her diamond necklace fractured the camera flash, sending the light into prisms. “Fucking  _ Hatchi. _ ”

“What?” 

Johnny almost blurted something out, but he remembered the proverb that wise men are silent while fools never stop talking. He took a breath and calmed himself. She didn’t know Taeil. She was attending parties because that was probably how she entertained herself. It gave her an excuse to wear her jewelery. “Who’s the red dress lady?” He asked casually.

“I’m not sure, I didn’t really talk to her. It seems like she was in a lot of the photos, though.” Taeil thought that was funny. “The cameraman must have liked taking her picture. These are my clinical professor and his wife.”

Johnny duly looked them over.  “Well, they don’t look like anything but regular rich people. Look at you Taeil, social climbing all over the place.”

Taeil wrinkled his nose. “ My parents gave money for the new clinical labs so I got an invite. It never hurts to so some networking in this job, so I went. It’s the first time I got to see my girlfriend in two weeks. She drank champagne on an empty stomach and I had to take her home before she puked in the dessert table.”

“How unfortunate,” Johnny was amused.

“I don’t have much of a tolerance anymore, either. Med students can’t abuse their livers like lit majors.”

“Hmm. Unfortunately I haven’t had any time for that lately.” Johnny pulled a long face.

“Why not? Are you to busy with clubs and being a dj and your cute new friend?” Taeil’s tone was teasing.

Johnny raised an eyebrow at his friend’s suggestive grin. “I would be a lot more likely to tell you if you weren’t telling your mom who is definitely telling my mom...”

“Okay, it goes no further.” Taeil made a play of zipping his lips, eyes sparkling. “Spill the tea.”

A small smile flitted across Johnny’s full lips - because he couldn’t. And wouldn’t. And it didn’t seem fair, because Taeil was indeed like an older brother and a lifelong friend and if anyone could understand, Taeil would be the one - but if he didn’t understand, it would be so much worse. There would be anger and threats and - telling his mother, ‘for his own good’. Taeil was older and would think that he had an obligation to stop Johnny from doing something deadass stupid like shacking up with a creature of darkness. 

Johnny didn’t like being a grown man and hiding his doings from his parents - but sometimes discretion was the highest good for everyone.

“I’m not working at the bar, it wasn’t a good fit for me.” Johnny deadpanned. “And that school club... well, I don’t really have time for it, because I am with Ten now and we are getting to know each other.” Johnny didn’t try to tame the lascivious grin that curled his full lips as he thought of the dark haired boy. “It’s a real delight.”

Trail snorted. “Yeah, I bet. I hardly have time to see my girlfriend. Must be nice to thoroughly get to know somebody.”

“I am being really thorough.” Johnny smirked. “You’d be proud.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Taeil wasted no time texting his professor to tell him he’d found someone to make the elixir, and told Johnny it would have to be done in three days or not at all. Johnny knew that meant he had to start on it right away; he might as well go get Ten and see if he wanted to go back with him or not. He ordered a waffle and syrup to go, because Ten would possibly be more annoyed if he was hungry.

With the styrofoam to-go container in his hands, Johnny let himself into Ten’s apartment. Rain was dripping down the wide front window, obscuring the view, but most of the plants there still seemed alive. Ten’s cleaning lady must have been watering them.

Ten was asleep on the couch, and didn’t wake when Johnny came in. Quietly, he toed off his shoes at the door and walked forward silently on the hardwood floors, setting the waffle box on the coffee table. Ten looked beautiful enough to make Johnny’s chest clench. His face was soft and relaxed, making him look younger than when he was awake, and his delicate features were just too pretty. His fingers were curled next to his cheek like a child, and his legs sprawled out ungainly, one foot hanging off the edge of the cushion. 

Staring down at him silently, Johnny felt a gamut of emotions - desire and possessiveness overwhelming, but still laced with mistrust that wouldn’t go away. “What the hell am I doing with you,” Johnny muttered to himself, almost laughing at his own predicament, while his hand reached out to smooth back the boy’s tousled hair. His heart melted when Ten blinked slowly, dark lashed eyes vague with sleep, then gave him the sweetest drowsy smile. Johnny lost himself willingly to enchantment, bending down to kiss those pink lips. His veins were running with honey, sweet and warm, a seeping pleasure everywhere throughout his frame.

“I brought you some food.” Johnny now wore his own foolish smile

“Mm.” With a kittenish yawn and a stretch, Ten moved his legs and sat up. “Thanks. I love food. How was your friend?”

“He wanted a favor.” Johnny admitted, sinking into the couch beside him.

Ten let his head rest on Johnny’s shoulder, leaning pliantly against him, body lax with sleep. “It it something bad?”

“Not really. He wants me to make a potion to help a friend. I’ll get paid for it too, but I’ll have to start tonight.”

“Tonight!” Ten suddenly wasn’t sleepy anymore. He jerked his head up to stare at his lover. “But you just finished the bracelet. And the vampire spray.”

“I know, but-”

“And you’ve been spending a lot of time going to class, too.”

“Well I am here to go to college, I have to do that.” Johnny reminded Ten patiently. “You should go, too.” The dark haired boy had stopped attending classes after he’d seen Hatchi. He hadn’t gone for several days.

Ten pressed his lips together. “There is no reason now.” He muttered, then glanced up at Johnny, drooping a little as he resigned himself to Johnny’s project. “How long is this one going to take?”

“This is a three day potion.”

“Ughh, that’s longer than the last one!”

“I know. I’m sorry. If it’s bothersome, you could stay here until I am done.” Johnny offered, wincing at Ten’s shrill tone.

Ten gasped a breath, and shook his head violently. “No. I don’t want that! I’m sorry. I won’t complain.” He gave Johnny a melancholy look, eyes large and dark, opaque in the lamplight. He put a gentle hand on the larger man’s thigh, and told him quietly, “I just want to be with you.”

_ God, how can he be this cute. _ Johnny reached out, pulling the smaller warm body close in his arms, feeling guilty at making Ten sad but also a little bit happy that he was desired so greatly. “Its just three days. We have so much time, don’t be mad about three days.”

“Okay.” Ten’s voice was muffled in Johnny’s chest. “I’ll try.”

Somehow, with trying to placate and comfort Ten, Johnny forgot to mention the photo of Hatchi he’d seen on the web page.   
  


There had been some serious controversy about Jae accepting Taeyong into the family. It had been over when Taeyong woke up the next morning, but the air still quivered with the aftermath of heated emotions when Jae brought the two vampires upstairs. Taeyong noted variously hostile, welcoming and neutral gazes as he was brought into the family-room to be introduced. An old auntie had looked him up and down and snorted in disgust. “Only the Jungs would take in some rag-tag vampire like this. What’s next? Growing marijuana in the backyard?”

Since everyone ignored her grumbling Taeyong did the same, though he felt a moment’s foolish embarrassment about the now-creased sweatpants and t-shirt he was wearing.

H e noticed many of the family members had mini spray bottles in snap pouches on leather strings around their necks. Later he asked Jae what that was, the shifter looked flustered. 

“Its a vampire sedative Johnny made. I don’t think we’ll need it, but it makes them feel more secure.”

There was also a new large padlock on the basement door, that would be locked every night after the shifters went to bed. 

“It’s a compromise for right now, that’s all.” Jae’s hand closed over Taeyong’s forearm there in the kitchen, and Taeyong felt like he couldn’t breathe. The warmth from that hand felt like it was overwhelming, and something about the shifter’s sheer presence made him feel small. Maybe it was the fact he had to look up into Jae’s eyes to nod his acceptance. 

Jae’s mouth curled in a wry grin. “Thanks for being patient, and it will get better. You’ll see.”

The two teen girls in the house, Yeri and Rebecca, found Taeyong to be very interesting. The sixteen and fifteen year olds pestered him with questions and stared and smiled. In turn, Jae teased them unmercifully until they got mad enough to flounce off and leave Taeyong alone.

That evening he got car keys from Jae and headed down to the Shelter to score an easy supper while the family watched Jaemin. He brought the car back, parking it in the street under a soft film of raindrops, and looked across the street to see the lights on in the attic of the wizards home. He slid a hand through his white hair, leaning back against the vehicle and watching the fuzz around the light from the rain and humidity. It was the first moment he had truly felt quiet all evening - from the uncomfortable introductions to the frenetic energy of the club he hunted, his whole night had been a mess of running from one place to another. It had been a long time since he had met so many people that he actually wanted to make a good impression upon. Not just for himself, but Jae too. He didn’t want to get the other man in trouble or cause him problems. Really he only wanted to make him happy, as much as it was in his power to do. His smile was everything.

He still felt the sting of Yuta’s rejection, and the empty place where Holly had been. He hadn’t really had time to grieve for her, so he did that for a while as the mist soaked his hair and furtive shapes slunk around the house, watching him while he pretended not to see them.

The second night Jae brought him up again, his smile bright and encouraging. “I know some of them are hard to deal with,” The shifter confided, “But the more they see you the more they will get used to you. Don’t be intimidated by all the barking they do.”

He was expecting some distrustful looks or even rude comments, but the first person he saw was Hana with her warm smile. The two girls were putting away clean dishes in the kitchen, and Renjun was wiping down the kitchen counters. “I was waiting for you.” 

Taeyong was shown the vacuum, and told to take care of the living room carpet, while Jaemin was given a bucket and a mop for the kitchen.

“Whyyyyy,” the youngster whined, looking forlornly at the implements in his hands.

“We all do our part,” Hana told him firmly. “Get to it.”

Jaemin looked like he wanted to argue, but a quick nod from Taeyong made him sullenly drag off to get some water in his bucket.

Taeyong vacuumed the large room connected to the family room while the shifters watching TV complained and turned up the sound on their speakers. Bemused by the whole thing, he wrapped up the cord and returned the vacuum to its place in the pantry off the kitchen.

“Done already?” Jae was at the kitchen table, books spread out in front of him. A sullen Jaemin was finishing up his mopping.

“Yes.” He slid into the chair across from Jae, unable to stop himself from smiling at him. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Welcome to the family,” Jae laughed, and Taeyong felt a queer stirring in him - like it really was the truth.

Late in the nights, Taeyong and Jaemin explored the shadowy corners of the basement, finding things to furnish their small room. They collected a floor lamp, brass with an amber stained glass globe over its light, a metal frame for a twin size bed, and an old dresser with drawers that stuck, full of children’s artworks on papers yellowed with age. A iron sculpture of a deer was nearly a foot tall, with beautiful graceful lines; they put that on the bookshelf. The cherry wardrobe was in a back room, hidden under a carpet. It was empty but for a few moldy old coats, but they managed to wrestle the large piece of furniture into the room fairly easily. Jaemin didn’t have Taeyong’s strength but he was developing fast, and he was far more powerful than he had been as an adolescent boy. 

They cleaned the drawers and polished the wood, arranging the furnishings to make their space more comfortable. Hana had Jaemin’s bed relocated from upstairs, and they brought an unused mattress down for Taeyong. Jaemin hung his own clothes in the wardrobe, and Taeyong was given hand me downs that Hansol and Jae had outgrown and Hana was keeping for the younger boys. 

Taeyong scraped years of dirt off the steps up to the outside, and carefully oiled the hinges of the cellar doors so they opened and closed silently. Jae solemnly gave them copies of the keys, each on their own key chain.

So the two vampires had their own little domain below the stairs, and Taeyong was content, if not happy. 

Now he looked at himself in the mirror, turning from side to side as he surveyed his outfit. Jeans and a button up shirt were the best things he could find to wear, a far cry from his prior wardrobe of expensive designer labels. He snorted at his appearance.

“Oh, please. You’re hot enough.” Jae was lounging on the couch, watching him. “You’re biting people, not turning tricks.”

“I like being the whole package,” Taeyong complained. “I look like a schoolboy.” He tilted his head, and ran his fingers through his hair, smoothing it down behind his ears.

“Heh. I don’t think so.” 

Taeyong glanced at Jae in the mirror, and when their eyes met, the other man looked away self consciously. For some reason, that made Taeyong feel very pleased. “Well. Thank you, Jae.”

“Where are you heading tonight?” The shifter changed the subject.

“My favorite hunting ground, the casino.” Grinning, he turned and grabbed the car keys Jae tossed his way.

“Ah, it makes me nervous when you talk like that about humans. I like hunting too, but I’ve never hunted people.” Jae looked searchingly at Taeyong.

“I don’t hurt anyone. You have to trust me on that… or…” Greatly daring, Taeyong reached out and carded his hand carefully through Jae’s hair. The strands were soft and silky, sending a shiver down his spine at the caress along his skin. “Want to come and watch me?” Taeyong’s voice was low as he invited, eyes locked on Jae’s. 

“You know I can’t get in, I’m only nineteen,” Jae blushed at Taeyong’s husky laugh. “Hansol only has one ID to borrow, and he obviously gave it to you…”

“Offer is open, anytime,” The vampire promised. “Make sure you keep Jaemin busy while I’m gone.” He could feel Jae’s eyes on his back as he went to exit the back steps, opening the cellar doors into the pelting rain.

A few hours later Tae stalked the casino, the bright neon lights reflecting off the white leather parts of his scuffed tennis shoes. The casino was so different from a club, but filled with lust nonetheless; it was the love of money that hazed the eyes of many of the people eagerly pushing buttons or watching balls spin on black and red wheels. He missed hunting the dark floor of HQ, with its clubgoers softened by the sweet poppy burning in the braziers and the copious free drink. And of course,  _ his  _ special ones, who came to him begging for it. He missed them most of all.

He glanced around the rooms, eyes flirting with the men and women who looked his way and stared, caught by the intensity of his eyes and the waves of allure that sucked them in as he let the hunger loose. Carefully, he swiped his pink tongue over his lips as he strolled, tasting the delightful zing of blood in the corner of his mouth. It didn’t do to waste even a little drop, especially now that he was sharing with Jaemin. And that girl had been delicious, drunk on champagne, a birthday girl. He’d left her with her pink sash and dazed eyes, picking up the plastic tiara that had fallen from her black curls and placed it carefully back on her head. The girl’s trembling smile followed him as he went to look for more easy prey.

His eyes sparkled with interest as he entered the room where they played high stakes card games. He didn’t have any money now, but he was often able to get a gift from the right person.

Drifting around the outskirts of the tables, he noticed a man at the right of the dealer. He appeared slim and youthful, with pale golden hair that skimmed his soft cheeks and delicate fingers that held his cards like he’d done this a million times before. His skin was a golden pale, his mouth folded small above a kittenish triangular chin, but there was a hardness in the deep ebony of his eyes that didn’t fit the rest of his face. He was wearing a billowy shirt in an exotic pattern of red tropical flowers and green foliage, a golden cuff bracelet circling his wrist glinting with tiny rubies.

Taeyong stared for a moment, wondering what there was about this man that was so queerly fascinating. It took him a moment to figure out that it was his stillness. Humans moved in little ways, adjusting and readjusting; the muscles were in constant motion, and the pale man - he was still. Deathly still, like he was a rock in a rapid current, splitting life around him as he stayed planted in his spot.

The man’s eyes, chips of obsidian, met Taeyong’s, causing a shirrush of cold to race down his spine. The hunter in Taeyong recognized another in this elegantly pretty man; the sense of unease tingling at his fingertips and throughout his body made him sure of it. Even Yuta didn’t have this statue-like stillness; this wasn’t just any vampire, and the whole of his attention was on Taeyong. 

_ WTF. Shit _ .

He ducked back behind the roulette wheel and quickly vanished around the corner, seeking easy anonymity in the maze of slots, jangling bells and glittering lights, so many faces, cigarette smoke wafting upwards and scenting the air with an acrid reek. There was another casino just down the street - the blond could have this one. Taeyong would find a different hunting ground.

He passed the security at the door, hurrying through the empty mall of closed shops to take the escalator down to the street level. When he stepped a foot off, the only warning was the slightest breeze against his skin before he was shoved, his back slamming roughly against the escalator wall.

The man from the tables was there in front of him, his willowy body inclined gracefully forward as he stared down at Taeyong from his taller height. A dainty hand splayed open and pressed to Taeyong’s chest. He felt his heart beat thump against that hand as he met the eyes of the other man, burning icily into his.  The man’s arm was slender but immovable, even when taeyong used both his hands. He felt like he was caught beneath a massive tree trunk, needing only a negligent push to completely crush him. 

He gasped for breath, chest compressed just enough to make that slightly uncomfortable. He fought a sudden surge of panic.

The man tilted his head. Icy fingers traced the line of Taeyong’s jaw.  “Don’t be frightened. I won’t hurt you.” The elder vampire husked, voice dark and smoky. Soft breaths tickled at Taeyong’s skin, scented of the metallic blood tang and mint. “I saw that you didn’t kill the girl from earlier, so you’ve done nothing wrong.” His frigid hand pushed a star shaped chill into Taeyong’s chest. “Who owns you, little one?” Teasing, the cold finger traced his lower lip.

“Nobody,” Taeyong declared boldly, his voice sounding too loud after the man’s husky whisper. Whatever this man wanted from him, he wasn’t going to breath a word about the Jungs, or Jaemin. “I belong to myself.”

The man looked up through his strands of blond hair, dark eyes sharp. “Then who made you? I would never be so cruel to visit this curse on another living creature, but my siblings will do so, time and again.” The man’s sensual lips pressed, their movement showing his impatience. He tapped a hard finger on Taeyong’s chin. “You are not my brother, so you must belong to one of them.”

“Y-Yuta!” Taeyong gasped, almost relieved to understand what the man was after. “Yuta made me.”

“Yes, this is my little brother’s territory.” The hand pulled back and gathered in his white shirt as the elder vampire yanked Taeyong close, staring at him like he could read his mind. “Have you see  _ Her _ , little one?” The capital letter was obvious in the way he emphasized his words. “I have heard a rumor that Our Mother is here, at long last.” His deep voice lowered to a raspy growl. “I greatly desire to see her.”

“Do you mean - Hatchi?” Taeyong couldn’t forget the blond woman that had stared at him when he’d awakened from that starving torture. Yuta called her mother.

The man’s eyes widened, and a smile made his pout turn pretty, showing his sharp white teeth. “Yes. Where is she?.”

“She was with him when I saw her a couple days ago.” Taeyong pried at the steel fingers still clenched in his shirt.  “With Yuta.”

Still smiling, the vampire let him go, stepping away. Taeyong took a deep breath, straightening his clothes with shaking hands. Wrinkles were pressed into the fabric where the vampire had gripped and they wouldn’t smooth out. 

“Where?” The blond spoke pleasantly, but it was clearly a command.

“They stay in a club called HQ. You can just plug it into your gps.”

“Thank you.” He gave Taeyong a pitying smile, eyes raking him up and down, and Taeyong smarted under the man’s judgemental gaze. “I guess you need these more than I do.” He reached into the pocket of his dark trousers, pulling out a handful of chips that he tossed at Taeyong’s feet, the colorful tokens hitting his worn white sneakers. With a smirk, he turned and was gone - so fast, it was like he disappeared. The heavy glass door that lead to the street gaped open and began slowly inching itself closed with a hissing sound. The last chip rolled on its side and flopped over, still.

“This bastard.” Taeyong hissed into the silence. He hated how the vampire manhandled him and then threw money like he was a noble dispensing largesse - but he bent over and scooped up the chips scattered around his feet.  Most of them were orange and he knew the pumpkins were worth 1000 each. He’d planned on trying to get some gifts out of the casino goers tonight, but it wasn’t easy to get a lot unless the person was winning. 

It was easier to get blood than money. 

He rubbed his chest, still feeling the freezing cold of the vampire’s hand, and got back on the escalator to ride back up. At least the casino was his to hunt again. 

For a moment, he considered telling Yuta that a elder vampire was heading his way, but in the end he didn’t send the message. He couldn’t forgive him for taking everything he’d ever owned and kicking him to the curb so abruptly. Let Yuta deal with whoever that was, and whatever he wanted. 

Jae had taken him to his old house, because he couldn’t really believe it when Sicheng told him that everything was gone. Indeed iit was completely empty, with a for sale sign in the yard. He’d looked in a couple windows at the darkness inside, and let himself feel the pain of the ending of that part of his life. It would have been worse if Jae hadn’t been there, a solid presence at his side, and Jaemin, running around the place and jumping over bushes that were taller than he was. “Hey Taeyong! Look at me!”

They kept him from sliding down to the valley of despair. The fall was easy - climbing up was the hard part. Jaemin and Jae, and the other family members that were beginning to welcome him - they kept him struggling, trudging doggedly upward. For them, he picked up the chips and cashed them in, settling down at the bar for a brandy to soothe his jangled nerves. For them, he smiled at a middle aged man in a suit who sat next to him and offered him twenty dollars to play the slots.

“I have a feeling you’ll get lucky with this.” The man leered at him over the extended bill.

This man was a type that Taeyong would never have accepted at HQ. There was nothing sweet about him, and the thought of touching him made the vampire feel queasy. Resigning himself to a meal of blood unflavored with lust, he took the bill with a small smile. “All right then, let’s play.”

 

 


	23. Chapter 23

Jae settled down at the kitchen table with his computer after locking the basement door. The recessed lights were still on over the sink, but the edges of the kitchen were in shadow. The old people went to sleep as soon as dusk hit, and at this late hour the children were tucked in. The hard working men and equally hard working housewives had gone up to bed as well. The TV’s were off, and the house was mostly quiet, settled down for the night.

Jae’s day had been busy. He’d had class in the morning, and then helping his uncles finish a flooring job in the afternoon. His knees ached from laying the hardwood floor and his hands were sore from the nail gun. He rolled his shoulders, stretching his neck from side to side, and quickly went through the questions for his psychiatry online quiz. Any question he didn’t know he copied and pasted into google; google never failed him. He’d just submitted the quiz and received his 97% when he heard a soft shuffling.

“Hi Auntie Lo.”

“Hi Jaybird.” His youngest aunt yawned. She was still in her pyjamas, girlish in shorts and a tank top, with her light brown hair mussed and twisted where it rested on her shoulders. She worked as a night nurse at a local hospital. It was well accepted gossip around the house that Lauren kept the night job to avoid her abrasive mother. 

“Got the night off?”

“Yeah. Damn, I slept late today - just got off a four day stretch of 12’s at work.” Grimacing, she opened the fridge and glanced in. “I keep the same hours as your vampires.” She took the dinner leftovers out of the fridge and put them on the table.

Jae snorted. “My vampires? Our vampires.”

Lauren grinned, hazel-green eyes twinkling. “Ok, whatever you say.” 

Even as a kid, Jae had been hard pressed to tease or get a rise out of Auntie Lo. She was annoyingly even tempered - but her mother was Aunt Jan, who nobody could ever really win against. She probably learned young the futility of argument.

“Speaking of vampires - you are as pale as Taeyong. Do you ever go out in the daytime?” Jae had to tease. 

Grinning, she smacked her own cheeks. “See this, baby? No lines. This is what staying out of the sun does for you. Ha.”

“You should tell your daughter. That brat Rebecca was out sunbathing all day long.” Rebecca and Yeri were becoming a hassle for Jae’s mother, going slowly as possible when they had chores to do and hiding around the house to avoid work. Hana had complained, half amused, half angry, that Rebecca became a little angel the moment her mother woke up after her shift then went back to her lazy ways the next day. 

During that same conversation, Jae had tried to get more information about Minhyun and what had happened to get him exiled from the pack. Hana had proven to be elusive, again, and Jae had been left frustrated. Taeyong didn’t bother him about it, but he knew the vampire was as curious as he was.

“You know, Rebecca and Yeri are fangirling over Taeyong.” Jae remarked, just talking as he watched his aunt eat her cold dinner.

“Haha. I’m not surprised, he’s cute. A vampire isn’t a bad choice for a boyfriend. At least his teeth are out there in the open. You know what to expect and you have only yourself to blame if you get bitten.”

“I guess.” Jae was curious at her blase attitude. He hadn’t talked to her for a while, and he remembered how she would speak to the younger ones like they were contemporaries, much to the scandal of their parents.

“Well, I am the lucky one since I get to see that handsome face when I get up every evening. So thanks, Jae. For the aesthetics.” She laughed at the look on his face.

“Now i know where Rebecca gets it.” He shook his head in mock-disapproval.

“Thats right.” Lauren shoved her mussed hair back, where it promptly fell back in he face. This time she ignored it.

“And you aren’t wearing the vampire tranquilizer…”

“Nope.” Lauren gave him a half smile. “I don’t need it. I wasn’t always this boring, you know. Back in the day I met a few vampires. One was a flaming asshole, but the other two were ok people. Just like anybody else.”

“I didn’t know you had those kind of friends.” Other than working and hanging out with Rebecca and her mother, Lauren didn’t really do anything remarkable.

“Are you kidding? I had a lot of fun out in the world.” Her lips curved in a frankly naughty smile. “I did a lot of naughty things with nasty people, spent a lot of money that didn’t belong to me, and got chased out of a couple cities. I thought I would live like that forever, the coolest and baddest bitch of them all. Of course then I came home pregnant to shame my mother. Wow. Great pride comes before the fall.” She clucked her tongue at her young self.

“Was that before or after my brother got sent away?” Jae asked mildly, watching her face for any reaction. He felt his pulse pick up, as if he was doing something wrong by questioning his aunt.

Lauren was chasing at her rice with a fork, not really paying attention. “After.”

Jae considered for a moment. He might be able to trick the story out of her, but he simply didn’t have the patience for that sort of thing. The direct route was always the best. “I’ve been asking my mother about what happened to get my brother sent away and she won’t tell me anything.”

“Your father probably made her promise not to tell you,” was the surprising answer. “Hey if we are gonna talk like big boys here - your dad is an asshole and he’s a big reason why the whole thing happened.” Scowling, Lauren shoved a large spoonful of rice in her mouth. “Your brother was my age mate, you know. He was my best friend. You really look just like him - though I think you are a little bigger. Personality wise though, you’re not much alike.” Her expression softened. “Minhyun was a really gentle guy. That’s why everyone was so surprised when he stood up to your father, and the old leader like he did. No - correct that. Everyone was surprised but my mother.”

“ _ What happened?” _ Voice urgent Jae leaned forward, his hands gripping the edge of the table.

“I’ll tell you.” Lauren’s light hazel eyes met his, flicked toward the door. “Let’s go outside for a minute.”

They went down the dim hallway to the front door. Jae put his shoes on, but Lauren went out on the porch in her bare feet. Rain was falling lightly, and the wind blew, warm and humid, bringing with it the scent of fresh earth. Rain dripped off the edge of the roof covering the porch, landing on the leaves of the tall bushes surrounding the enclosure. In the dark, in the rain, surrounded by the bushes, it felt far more private out here than in the house.

“Just a minute.” Lauren ducked down to pull a pack of cigarettes from behind a flower pot. Jae’s night vision gave him a clear view of her smirk as she shook out the lighter and popped one of the smokes into her mouth. “What? Surprised?”

“Yeah, a little,” He admitted. “Thought I would have smelled it on you.”

“I only smoke before i take a shower.” she tapped her temple, then flicked the lighter. The flame illuminated her face briefly, and then the only light was the glowing orange ember of the cigarette. 

“You’re an adult, aren’t you? You can smoke if you want to.” He told her dismissively.

“Its okay. I smoke out here after dark and my mother pretends she doesn’t know. It works out for us.” Raindrops pittered against the roof, tapped on the drooping wet leaves of trees and bushes. Lauren drew on the cigarette, and then let out her breath in a pleased sigh; the acrid scent of the smoke lingered around them both, almost hurting Jae’s nose with its intensity. 

“Tell me about Minhyun.” Jae encouraged, when she just smoked and didn’t talk.

“Yeah.” Her tone was resigned. “I do want you to understand, so just let me tell you some background, ok? It was only twenty years ago, but things were completely different for us than they were for you.” Resentment scratched beneath her soft voice. “We didn’t go to public school, and we didn’t go to college either; we didn’t mix with normies, unless it was the men going out for work.  It was because Sungho was old and old fashioned; he wouldn’t change with the times, and he was very harsh on those who wanted to do things differently. Grandfather tried to cope with him, but the older he got the meaner he was. So we were kept at home, studying what Sungho thought was ok to study and doing what we were told. We didn’t dare sneak out - the boys would get beaten with a belt, and I got a switch. Lucky, right?” Lauren laughed without amusement. “But when we turned eighteen, everything changed. We were dusted off and trundled off on ‘visits’ to other packs - but just the right kind of packs. Packs that lived the old way were becoming scarce, and those were the only ones that old bastard Sungho would entertain. If you had a couple visits and didn’t come home with a mate in mind, the choice would be taken out of your hands, so the pressure was really on. Girls came to our place a lot, because there were four boys in our age group, and I was the only girl; it could be kind of fun, because the adults would leave you alone a little more when other kids were visiting. Minhyun was popular, because he was handsome and kind, but he didn’t really like any of the girls. When they came around he would sneak off with my brother rather than one of them, and that was just the way things were.”

“Ah?” Jae was not entirely surprised. He’d heard plenty of stories about the olden days, and how young shifters were kept isolated from the normies around them. That isolation plus a heavy taboo against messing with your female cousins naturally made boys turn to other boys to experiment. Some had difficulty turning their affections back to girls once they reached the magical age of eighteen.

“Your father was the one who really didn’t like it. Sungho wouldn’t have known anything about it unless he went to him to complain about the relationship and that they needed to be separated if they were gonna do their duty to the pack. So Sungho packed Minhyun off to a pack in South Korea, with the understanding that he was going to stay until he found a wife or my brother found one. But too bad for them, he found none other than Taeyong. And it wasn’t just attraction, it was a calling.” she dropped her cigarette and stamped it out with her foot. Thinking better of her action, she picked up the flattened end and dropped it over the side of the porch, into the bushes.

This time Jae was surprised, his mouth falling open as he tried to think of a reply. Eventually, he ventured, “That’s unusual. I haven’t heard of a Calling between the same sex.”

Lauren pulled another cigarette out of the pack and lit it quickly. “Well it’s not common among heteros either. How often does it happen, once in a generation? My mother and father had a calling, and you see what happened there - one white woman in a family of Koreans. Sungho hated her but he had to put up with her. It was even worse when my father died and she became so awful. Really, the calling twisted all her good gifts after he was gone.”

“So let me guess.” Jae’s heart wrung with pity for this brother he had never met. “ He came back and told them about the calling?”

“Yeah he did. And he was told he was an adult, and it was time to put childish things aside and be a man.” There was a bitter twist to Lauren’s voice. “Even though it was a  _ calling _ . But they didn’t believe him, and accused him of being selfish.” She took a puff on the cigarette and gazed out into the rainy darkness. “Plenty of shifters with a  _ special friend _ get married and have kids. You know how it is for us. Out of my mother’s four kids, only I lived to grow up. Out of your mother’s three, just you and your sister. We die at the hands of warlocks, we die learning to shift, we get shot by hunters, the list is endless; and back then we also died in brawls with other packs. Anybody who wasn’t willing to procreate for the good of the pack was a selfish fuck who didn’t deserve to be part of it. So when Minhyun refused to marry the girl your father and Sungho picked out, he was banished. And that was that.” She took another long drag of her cigarette, the tip glowing orange as she inhaled. “I don’t know what happened to Taeyong, but I think it was something similar. They set up their own place in Korea, and took in some others who needed a home. I was saving my money to go visit him and maybe stay forever when suddenly everything stopped. No weekly call. Didn’t answer the phone. Your mom called the police, and they told her his place burned down. She went there to look for him, but found no trace of any of them.”

A car drove slowly down the street. Jae recognized the Yukon, even in the dark, just by the shape of the headlights. Lauren’s smile was lit up as the SUV turned into the driveway. “I’m glad he’s here now.” She said in a low voice. “Really happy.”

The car stopped, two doors opening up to show Jaemin and Taeyong. The two approached, Jaemin looking at them curiously and Taeyong smiling as he saw who stood there. “Jae! And - sorry, I don’t recall your name.”

“I’m Lauren.” She flicked her last cigarette into the bushes, and grinned at the three. “I have to go shower. See you.”

“Wait-” But she was too quick, slipping through the door before he could ask her the question that was nagging him. Why didn’t his father want him to know?

“What’s the matter?” Taeyong gave him a tentative smile.

“I’m okay. Just -” He gazed out into the darkness, the warmth of Taeyong’s hand comforting as he briefly brushed Jae’s arm. “Your hand is hot,” Jae exclaimed in surprise. He reached out and grasped Taeyong’s wrist, feeling the feverish temperature of his skin.

“It’s like that after we feed,” Taeyong explained, looking away, as if he was embarassed.

Jaemin chortled. “We did great tonight.” 

“You, too?” Jae grabbed Jaemin’s hand, and it was certainly warm too. He whipped his head around to stare at Taeyong. “You let Jaemin hunt?”

“He has to learn how.” This time, Taeyong met his eyes evenly.

“I can hunt as well as anyone else,” Jaemin scowled. “What do you think? Who doesn’t want to stop and help this kid, lost and all alone?” Jaemin suddenly crumpled, his shoulders drooping, hugging his arms around his chest as if he was cold; he looked up into Jae’s eyes with a wistful, pleading expression, reaching out a shaking hand toward him. “Please, mister?” His voice was thin, frightened. With his big dark eyes and pale face, he looked the very picture of a vulnerable child. But then he grinned, mouth wide, showing off his sharp inscisors. The view of that mouth actually made Jae feel a little bit queasy, and he was suddenly very glad that Taeyong was there - not for Jaemin’s sake, but for the sake of innocent people who want to help a lost kid.

“Of course there are people who want to hurt a kid, too.” Taeyong commented, watching Jae’s face.

“Well, fuck them.” Jae growled, satisfied when both vampires smiled in agreement.

There was the sound of a muffled shout from inside the house. Jae ignored it and the vampires didn’t even notice, their hearing not as keen as his. Jaemin was talking about something, but Jae wasn’t listening, too distracted by the sound of voices, then bangs from doors slamming. 

“Shit, something’s up. Let’s go in,” Jae interrupted, swinging the door open  just in time to hear the meeting bell ringing loudly. He ran through the dark rooms, eyes smarting when he came to a stop in the brightly lit living room.

Grandmother was ringing the bell, face tight with grief, her short gray hair mussed and her robe tied sloppily. Standing at her hip was grandfather, in his wolf form, gray hair gone white around his eyes and muzzle. His head was held high, and he nuzzled her gently as she stood there firmly beside him. It had been a while since grandfather had the energy to shift. He was calm and serene as he stood there next to his wife, his faded old eyes meeting Jae’s across the room.

Jae felt his heart beat quicken as he drew in a sharp breath. “What is going on?” Taeyong murmured,  confused.

“Just wait.” He gripped Taeyong’s wrist - whether to steady the vampire or himself, he didn’t know.

Unlike humans, shifters woke up quickly with their senses fully functional. It took only moments for the room to fill, and voices to still as they saw grandmother and grandfather waiting. As they gathered, there was a tension that filled the room, almost a hum. It seemed to vibrate at the back of Jae’s ears. He rubbed his head with the hand that wasn’t holding onto Taeyong.

Grandmother cleared her voice, but the room was already completely silent. “Grandfather heard the forest call.” Grandmother’s voice was grim. Her frail old hand dropped down to his head and scratched around his ears. “He will go tonight.”

Jae felt the air explode out of him. He wasn’t the only one who made a noise- there were gasps and whimpers from the family, but nobody was cruel enough to scream or cry. That was for private, afterwards. As eyes turned toward him, Jae scanned the crowd and saw that Hansol was nowhere to be seen. Jae felt a moments panic. What the hell was wrong with him, did he never come home anymore?

_ Is it really up to me? _

And it really seemed like it was. Even Grandmother was looking at him. 

Jae’s head whirled for a moment.  _ This can’t be happening now. I’m not ready. I need more time.  _  But Grandfather’s expression was calm and serene as he gazed at Jae, somehow communicating that everything would be okay. Jae felt his nerves steady, and he pushed all future concerns away. This wasn’t about what came next. This was about what came now. 

“Get the cars ready.” He ordered. “We will go to Indian Springs. And somebody please call Hansol.” 

Jaemin hurried to go to his parents, confused. Jae turned around, pulling Taeyong with him. He had to stop when the vampire pulled back, refusing to follow. Shifters moved around them toward the doors as they stood in the hallway, eyes locked.

“What’s the matter?” Jae asked the vampire. 

“I can stay…” Taeyong looked unaccountably nervous.

“No. The whole family will be there. Its only right that we all say goodbye together. Besides.” Jae felt an ache in his chest that was only getting stronger, and only the warm wrist in his hand was keeping it at bay. “You are my oath son. I need you.” Jae felt a flush of embarrassment after he said it, but he was only being honest. 

Taeyong’s expression firmed, and he stood a little straighter. His eyes softened as he continued to meet Jae’s gaze. “Of course then. Whatever you need, I will do.” The white haired man replied.

Jae took Taeyong with him in the Camry, leading the caravan of cars into the night. The freeway was nearly deserted, heading north so late in the evening; once they passed out of the city, the rain cleared and a silvery half moon shone down on them, surrounded by the cool pin-pricks of stars. Jae’s hands gripped the wheel tightly as he drove, trying to breathe deep and push all thoughts from his mind. The cool gray ribbon of the roadway stretched out in front of him, and the headlights of the other cars reflected in his rear-view mirror.

“Forgive me.” Taeyong’s voice invaded the quiet. “What is a forest call?”

Jae glanced at the man beside him, seeing those dark intense eyes fixed upon him. A wave of sadness washed over him, and he blinked his eyes to dryness. “I’m sorry, I should have explained.” Knowing what he did now about Taeyong it was so easy to forget that he wasn’t one of them, and that he couldn’t remember things that Jae took for granted. “Its a little hard to explain. Some of us are lucky enough to feel a call before we die. It tells us to come back to the forest, and when we hear it, we get back a little of the energy of youth - enough to get us into the darkness and the trees and find a place to rest. It’s considered to be a great gift at the end of life to have a forest call.”

“Ahh.” Taeyong didn’t say anything more, but Jae knew he understood.

It was too long and not long enough when they wove into the park, jae stopping at the side of the road and watching all the cars stop there too.

“I need to change,” Jae told Taeyong. “Get out for a minute.”

Alone, Jae shucked off his clothes and got up on the seats. He slid easily into the transformation, accustomed to the stretch of muscles and remapping of his body. A sharp bark made Taeyong open the door, and Jae leaped out, dark fur ruffling in the warm wind, his nose alive with scents, ears swiveling to the sounds of the night.

They gathered there, under the light of the half-moon, in the grass beside the thick forest. Old wolves with silver muzzles, little pups with short legs, adults that were slim or stocky, long legged and thick tailed. Grandfather walked among them, touching noses, licking their faces, saying goodbye. He had a long nuzzle with grandmother, followed with a shoulder bump; he rested his head on top of Jae’s almost like a benediction.

A car screeched up behind the last car in line. Jae and a few others paced toward it, lips drawing back in a growl, when the door slammed open and a silver wolf catapulted out of the driver’s seat, leaving the door hanging. Hansol trotted up with a whimper, crouching at grandfather’s feet, only to have the old wolf nose around his head and worry one of his long ears playfully. Grandfather went to Jaemin, and the boy bent down, wrapping his arms around the old wolf and rubbing against his cheek. Taeyong he just sniffed gently, and the vampire touched his head, tentative and respectful.

Then grandfather lifted his head as if he heard something. His ears went up, his tail went high and he cocked his head, listening. Eagerly, he turned his body toward the forest, eyes gleaming as he looked at something nobody else could see. Turning away from the family, he trotted eagerly, with a vigor and energy he hadn’t had for years in an old and ailing body. He howled once as he entered the forest, a eager, happy sound. The moon caught in the white hairs in his gray coat and made him glow as he disappeared from sight into the welcoming darkness among the trees.

The family howled back, many voices raised in tribute, and then they were quiet while the nighttime sounds of insects and small things moving returned. 

They waited in respectful homage, the littlest pups falling asleep curled at their parents feet. The moonlight shone among the silent wolves, making them seem more like statues than real beings. The earliest birds were already singing in the darkness when they went back into the cars, shifting back into human shape and tiredly getting ready to return home. 

Taeyong pushed Jae to the side, getting into the drivers seat of the small car. “You’re tired,” He told the shifter. “I’ll drive back.”

Jae yipped irritably, but didn’t protest. He forced himself back into the skin of his human self, finding himself partially Taeyong’s lap when he was done shifting. He pushed himself up and grabbed his clothes from the back seat, shimmying in the small space to dress. The vampires eyes were shining as he stared at Jae as if he were mesmerized.

“What.”

“You shifted in front of me.”

“So?” Jae’s chest hurt. He pulled on his shirt, and rubbed a hand against his sternum. “Lets go home.”

He had hoped he might be able to sleep on the way back but his eyes just would not close. He leaned back in his seat and looked at the stars until they were engulfed by the thick rainclouds surrounding the city.  _ Grandfather, _ Jae thought with sorrow, unable to voice it out. The old leader had left his life in a honorable way, with a thick array of years lived well; Jae would have wished he could have lived a little longer. 

He turned his head, looking at Taeyong’s fine profile, lit by the blue dials on the dashboard. The vampire’s fingers were warm, gliding through Jae’s hair, soothing him a little as worries gnawed at him and grief pressed on his heart. 

_ The time will be now. Hansol, or me. Leadership or exile. _

It was very late. Everybody would go back and fall into bed, then they would rise to go about their lives as always. Shifters were practical people and did not make a display of mourning, but pictures would be prepared and hung in the downstairs hallway, and the elders would meet and decide who the next leader of the pack would be.

Somehow Taeyong and Jae were the last ones back, maybe because the vampire drove like a old man and obeyed every speed limit. They walked to the front door in silence, pausing there.

“You need to sleep,” Taeyong told Jae. He wore a gentle expression, looking at Jae with such affection that it was hard for the shifter to hold back tears. Was that look really for him, or for a forgotten memory?

Exhaustion and grief made Jae’s tongue loose. “Who do you see when you look at me? Jae, or Minhyun?”

The vampire licked his full lips with a kittenish tongue, surveying the face of the man in front of him. “I see Jae. A man who is tired from being up all night, and taking care of others, and burdened with sorrows.” Taeyong’s gaze burned into his. “I wish there was more I could do to comfort you. At the very least, let me kiss you good night.”

Jae was floored at the request, his body heating up - until he remembered what vampire kisses did. He scowled, feeling like an idiot, and looked away. “I don’t need that.”

Taeyong took a step forward, backing Jae into the door as he tried to keep a discrete distance between them. “You do need that,” The vampire disagreed, close enough now that Jae’s nose was full his scent of dying flowers and metal. “Your heartbeat is irregular. You are anxious. Let me give you rest.” His hard chest brushed Jae’s as he leaned near, soft wet lips close, voice a seductive purr. “Let me kiss you.” 

Jae put his hands on Taeyong’s shoulders, but for some reason, couldn’t bring himself to push him off. 

“Just this once, let me help you. Just say yes.”

Standing there so close, breathing in Taeyong’s breath, Jae had no idea how he would get out of kissing him - and as his heart sped and staggered he didn’t know if he even should. “Ok. If you want…”

The moment he gave his assent, Taeyong tilted his head upward, encircling Jae in his arms. The vampire was cool again, his lips were soft and refreshing. They nibbled against Jae’s warm mouth, parting to swipe a wet tongue against his lips, and Jae let himself lean against Taeyong for that moment, putting himself into his hands. The white haired man’s hands were gentle, and his arms were strong and sheltering. He held Jae with care, then guided him to take a step back so he could open the door.

“Go to bed.” Taeyong pressed Jae forward. 

The shifter took a step, feeling his body already beginning to relax. He looked back at Taeyong, suddenly feeling very young compared to the other man. “Thank you.”

Taeyong’s mouth quirked upward, eyes never leaving Jae’s face. “My pleasure. Good night.”

 


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I am back from long absence! Well I still plan to finish this damn story, so here is a new chapter. I hope you all are still interested in reading it.

It hadn’t been easy to get rid of Ten for the night, but Johnny hadn’t wanted his boyfriend around when he performed the important last steps in creating the elixir. He couldn’t afford to screw up now, with no time left to start again; the professor was texting him too, telling him the potion was urgently needed tonight.

Ten had protested going back to his own apartment, first saying that he had no need for alone time and then pouting so cutely Johnny could barely keep his resolve. The next thing he’d tried was nibbling on Johnny’s ear and breathing, in the way he knew made Johnny weak as water. It had almost worked too, but Johnny had come to his senses and practically shoved his lover out the door. Ten had paused to look back at him, Kaya clutched to his chest, frowning and suspicious. “You’d better be prepared to make this up to me,” He’d hollered before getting in his car and leaving.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Johnny had hurried upstairs to prepare his potion.

He was nearly on the last step now, and he didn’t want anything distracting him so he would screw it up. He’d almost gotten back too late for one of the steps two nights before, since he’d gone across the street to help Jae with his vampire problem. Ten was a distraction on an hourly basis - it was better to have him out of the house.

His apparatus was in the attic, safely in a corner away from the open windows. Carefully, he poured out three blue crystals from a tiny amber bottle and held them in his hand. His aura licked around the tiny crystals, adding energy so that they glowed; he dropped them carefully into the beaker of solution, then stoppered the beaker. He placed it in a wooden box with a lid and screwed it shut with thumbscrews, since the solution needed to cure in darkness.

Two more hours now. He set an alarm on his phone, and glanced at the windows. It was sprinkling softly. Not minding, he pulled out the screen from the nearest window, allowing the air elementals floating outside to come in. He’d had to shoo them out of the attic before beginning, but he figured they couldn’t hurt anything now. He loped quickly downstairs to get a carton of Ben & Jerry’s, plus a few bowls, and came back to the attic. Johnny scooped up the ice cream for the creatures and placed it on the low table he kept up there near the window, along with the usual coffee creamer.

“Do you like music?” With a satisfied sigh, he picked up his acoustic guitar. He slid down the wall to sit as he watched the elementals waft around the room, letting his fingers dance across the neck of his guitar as he gently strummed. The elementals seemed to like the music, too; even more were entering the space, causing the ceiling to become hazy with the distortion of their bodies. Ever since he’d summoned that first one, he had been followed by at least one or two of them, with an unknowable number visiting the attic. They had been frequently useful to him, apparently willing to work for their treats. It was a good arrangement. Ten didn’t pay them much attention, and the feeling was mutual; the elementals liked Johnny.

Johnny relaxed into the music, the notes bringing up the memory of the frustrated look on Ten’s face when he’d pushed him out tonight. Johnny knew he was wrapped around Ten’s finger, but times like this reminded him Ten was also securely wound on Johnny’s.  A smile ghosted over his face as he pressed the metal strings of the guitar but remembered the feel of warm, velvety skin beneath them instead. The thoughts were a gentle ache, nothing like the painful kind of lust he felt when Ten was with him, to the point where it was becoming difficult to do anything else but touch him all the time when he was near.

He wondered if it was like this too with Hatchi’s centuries of abandoned lovers. Did they become addicted to the magic inside her, to the burn of it tingling just under the skin everywhere they touched? Did they stay immersed in her until she abandoned them, leaving her children behind? Did they mourn her loss until they died?

Johnny serenaded the elementals gently, fingers pulling glittering notes from his acoustic that reverberated from the high ceiling. He let his eyes unfocus, and let his mind wander as he played; maybe that was why he didn’t notice the wind until it was blowing his hair in his eyes.   
He stopped playing, sitting up straighter to see that wind was pouring in all the windows - all of them at once, which was far from normal. The winds met in the middle of the room, and in the confluence the air began to spin on the floor, kicking up a whirlwind of dusts and scraps of paper.

The first thing he worried about was his potion - but the strong box surrounding the fragile beaker of elixir was unmoved on the table. The rest of his beakers and test tubes were swaying dangerously, clinking where they hit together. Before he could even get up a beaker blew off the table and crashed on the floor, breaking into shards that were swept toward the center of the room.

“Shit.” Johnny uttered, putting the guitar aside and jumping to his feet. “This is what I get for feeding you jerks?” But a quick glance around the attic showed him that the elementals were gone, and the whirlwind was now waist high in the center of the room. A flick out with the Sight showed him a blaze of energies in the center of the room, bright enough to be almost overwhelming.

Adrenaline electrified Johnny as he lunged toward the window, fruitlessly trying to drag it shut, then stepped back to stare at the ominous dark cylinder whirling more slowly, now taller than he was. It was between him and the steps, of course. He quickly threw energy into a shield around his body, invisible to the naked eye but a hard white glow to the Sight; he brought the arm with the silver bracelet in front of him, and waited.

The column of dark mist in the middle of the room was forming a human shape. The greyness split at the bottom and top into limbs, with a blob for a head; as he watched, these features refined into something that had the appearance of a human. The edges of the being that was forming sharpened and solidified. Discrete fingers appeared on the top limbs which shrunk and darkened into long and delicate arms. The head became human shaped, forming wide set eyes and silvery hair that cascaded back, resembling feathers. Legs formed as well, showing defined muscles along the thighs and calves, dissolving below the ankles into the mist that ran along the floor as the humanoid shape was buoyed up upon the winds that still streamed into the room. The middle of the creature’s body was covered by a toga-shaped garment, that gave the hint of fabric as it moved in the breezes that surrounded it. The hues of the body ranged from darkest pewter for the toga to a silver that was almost white for the feathery hair and the gleaming sclera that surrounded the metallic irises of the large eyes. The creature floated in the air, and gazed down at Johnny without expression on its inhumanly beautiful face.

Finally it opened its mouth. Johnny steeled himself for an attack. Its voice was like a whisper, but resonant, like the wind blowing through hundreds of leaves. The feathers of its hair lifted in the wind, floating lightly behind it; Its chromed eyes gleamed as it looked down at him from its great height, at least a foot above him. “You cannot keep these elementals, wizard. They are mine.”

A sylph. Johnny gulped a dry swallow. They were the princes of the air, as much above an air elemental as he was above a worm, or a demon was above an imp. Shit. Nothing he knew would defend him against a powerful being like this one; he had to hope it wasn’t too angry. He gazed up into its inhumanly large and reflective eyes, seeing a mirror image of his own pale face in its gaze. “I’m not keeping them. They just come here.”

The sylph glided along the floor, held out one unnaturally long arm to smooth a finger around the edge of the empty bowl of ice cream. It frowned as the sweetness dissolved on its appendage. “Don’t they come for this?”

“That’s just for helping me,” Johnny explained lamely. “They keep me dry in the rain…”

“Foolish child. It rains all the time _because_ you are keeping them here. You are upsetting the natural balance of the weather.” The sylph frowned at him, all seven feet of it looking beautiful and terrible, gleaming in the fluorescent lights. “Fields are dying and streams are drying to a trickle because you are interfering with things you don’t understand. Or is this a game you are playing?”

The sylph floated closer, and Johnny had nowhere to go; the wall was at his back, and he wasn’t ready to jump out the window yet. His heart thumped against his ribs as his nose was flooded with the scent of the sylph, the thickness of rain tempered with the faint taint of ozone. The sylph bent down to gaze at him and the air that surrounded it rippled Johnny’s shirt around him and teased at his hair, blowing it onto his forehead and back again. He licked his lips nervously.

It cocked its head, and slid its argent hands over the invisible curve of his shield. Like everything about the sylph, the hands weren’t exactly right; the fingers were too long, strangely attenuated. The feeling of hands on his shield was queerly intimate, like the sylph was touching his own skin, and Johnny suppressed a shiver.

“You have been touched by the darkness. I can feel it on you.” The Sylph stared at him, frown fading as its hands lay flat against the shield. “Touched, but somehow not tainted. Still, this house reeks of that dark energy - it’s everywhere, burning on every surface of this place. On every bit of you, even this.” The sylph quickly lifted its hands off the shield, as if that was all it could endure, and glided away.

Johnny didn’t say anything, not sure what to make of the sylphs comments. He noticed movement in the window on the other side of the attic, and watched as an air elemental slipped in; the shameless creature floated past the sylph and descended on the bowl of melted ice cream. There was a soft, dry sound and Johnny realized that the sylph was laughing as it watched the greedy elemental.

When the tall, silvery being turned back to Johnny he felt something pierce his shield painfully and loop around him, tightening against his aura. He gasped at the feel of a truth-spell. It was distastefully familiar, his mother’s last resort when dealing with her son before he reached adulthood. He groaned, sinking down to sit against the wall, trying to re-absorb the frayed edges of his shield but struggling against the bonds of the spell.  “What…”

“What did you intend to do with these elementals?”

The bonds of the spell squeezed at him, and he couldn’t resist gasping out, “Nothing! I wasn’t going to do anything.”

“What about your dark prince? Did he ask you to bring them?”

This damn creature knows more than it pretends to, Johnny thought, but was unable to resist replying. “No. He doesn’t even pay any attention to them.”

“Did you gather the elementals to lure me here?”

The spell didn’t even have to squeeze Johnny make him answer that one, emphatically. “Hell, no. I didn’t know you were going to come and I don’t want you to come back. I’ll stop feeding them. They just like me, that’s all.” He took a deep breath as he felt the bonds of the truth spell dissolve.  
The sylph waved a finger and shooed the stray elemental out the window, then it turned to johnny again. He was rather expecting an apology for the truth spell - it was rude after all - but instead the sylph said, “There is an old human proverb. Do you want to hear it?”

Johnny blinked. What was with this creature? “Sure.”

The sylph clasped its long-fingered hands in front of it, turning its large eyes on Johnny, its waist-long hair blowing in the light breeze. “One winter a farmer found a snake stiff and frozen with cold. He had compassion on it and picked it up, placing it in his bosom. The snake was quickly revived by the warmth, and resuming its natural instincts, bit it’s benefactor, inflicting on him a mortal wound. “Oh,” cried the farmer with his last breath, “I am rightly served for pitying a scoundrel.”

Johnny gave the creature of the air a slit eyed look. “Are you trying to warn me? Or something?”

“You are entertaining a prince of the darkness. As pretty or seductive as this one may be, it is a creature that brings chaos and destruction with it. It cannot help it. It is its nature.” The sylph gazed down at him. “You are young and foolish, and I don’t wish to see you come to harm.”

“Umm. Thank you.” Johnny figured he was better off with the sylph thinking he was a good natured idiot; at least the creature didn’t seem inclined to do him any harm.

“I am Caeli, the sylph of this sky. If you have many of the elementals return and they won’t leave, you may send a call out for me.” it slid a hand around its head, and a strand of hair fluttered loose from the end of one long tress; the sylph released it, and it wafted directly down into Johnny’s outstretched hand, where it solidified into a iridescent feather. “Use this.”

“Thank you.” Johnny couldn’t believe it. A fucking sylph feather? What the hell! He stared at it, how colors moved around the tufted plumes at the base, shimmering in a soft rainbow up to the tip, the quill and barbs themselves the whitest of white. It would have been easy to believe it was from an angel’s wing.

The sylph was staring at him, large reflective eyes glinting, and Johnny quickly returned the introduction. “I’m Johnny Seo. Journeyman, Chicago Sorciere.”

The sylphs form darkened and lost all cohesion, fading to smoke as it collapsed to the ground. The winds abruptly changed direction, now blowing out the windows, until they cut off like a switch had been flipped. Dust still wafted in the aftermath of the disturbed air, but that was all that was left to show the elemental had been there. Johnny was alone.

He ran and shut all the windows, carefully cradling the feather against his chest as he sunk down against the wall to stare at it.

Warlocks would kill for a magical object like this. Wizards would die to protect a sylph feather, and passed them down from generation to generation, a prized possession of a family. The feather was the sign of favor from a powerful air elemental - a promise of help from that same creature. They were so rare that Johnny had never seen one.

After basking in the glow of his amazement and awe, darker thoughts intruded. It didn’t make sense, to give him a feather for something so simple. Johnny could chase air elementals from his house without any trouble. He was a journeyman wizard. Even an apprentice could do it.  
So why was the sylph offering help?

Why?

He spun the feather between his fingers, watching the iridescent rainbow that shimmered as it moved. Was this feather meant to help him with the elementals or with his _prince of the darkness_?

It didn’t matter. What did sylphs know about creatures of fire, anyway? Ten wasn’t a snake and Johnny was not a farmer, it was a stupid analogy.

Johnny tucked the feather into his grimoire, closing the heavy pages of the book around it carefully. The moment Johnny completed the final step for the potion, he texted Ten to return.

_Come back now._

_Okay, I’m coming._

When Ten returned to the house, the evening sun was blazing molten on the western sky. The beams slid through the humid air, illuminating everything with a hazy glow, softening the landscape so it looked fairylike and surreal. Johnny was outside to enjoy the newly clear skies, drawn by the laughter of the Jung kids playing across the street. He felt a little bit sheepish at being the cause of so much bad weather, but he was the only one who knew and he was going to keep it that way. He was standing on the porch, hip leaning against the post when Ten arrived.

Ten got out of his car, shutting the door with a solid thunk. He paused, cocking his head curiously as he watched the kids play, ignoring Kaya as she scampered past his feet.. The evening sunlight gilded his hair and kissed his skin to gold, such a pretty picture that Johnny wished he had his camera. Ten crouched down next to Renjun, who was playing with some of the smaller kids in the puddles on the sidewalk.

Johnny snorted to himself, amused at how distractible Ten was. He walked over the grass in his bare feet, feeling the dampness of the soft blades as they slid between his toes, and crossed the street so see what had captured his lover’s interest.

A little boy was crouched on the sidewalk in the middle of a puddle, smacking his hand in the water and giggling at the splash. A solemn-faced girl of about six had a handful of worms, and was showing them to Ten. “Touch them!” She insisted. “They’re nice!”

Ten picked one up carefully between his thumb and forefinger; his nose wrinkled in distaste as the worm lengthened, brown and shiny, dangling in the air under Ten’s judging eyes. Johnny held his breath, trying not to laugh at the other boy’s expression..

“I don’t like him. He is slimy and wet.” Ten dropped the worm into the puddle.

“Don’t do that,” the little girl scowled, snatching the worm back up. “They will drown in the puddles and we have to save them!”

“Why?” Ten still looked like he smelled something nasty, but he looked curious.

“Because the worms eat dirt and make dirtilizer for the plants to grow. The plants feed the animals, and then we eat the animals.! So we should save the worms.” Her long dark hair swung at her back as she skipped along the lawn, dropping worms into the grass as she went.

“Worms!” The little boy chortled, smacking the puddle happily. The drops caught the sunlight as they splashed warmly on Johnny’s feet.

Ten smiled at Johnny, the sun turning his eyes to a glowing amber. “Hi. Are you done with your thing?”

“Yeah.” He couldn’t help but smile back; Ten looked so brightly happy in the sunshine. All thoughts of taints and darkness left his conscious mind as he basked in the glow of Ten’s aura.

The little girl was back, and now she grabbed Renjun’s hand, dragging him out of the puddle.

“Come on, help me save them.”

Renjun groaned but went along with her. There were worms on the dry parts of the sidewalk, squirming blindly on the concrete; there were ones in the puddles too, turning fat and bloated with the water,

“We can’t save them all,” Renjun let himself be pulled along as he protested.

“We have to save the ones we can.” She told him firmly.

With a laugh, Ten followed, crouching down with the kids and running a hand through a dirty puddle to bring out a pinkish-brown worm. “I think it’s dead,” he made a face and tossed it into the grass.

“It’s okay.” The little girl patted his shoulder comfortingly. “the birds will eat it.”

“Don’t make our neighbors pick up worms!” Renjun was done. “You’re completely filthy and so is Cole. Let’s go back in and get you guys a bath.” He reached out and held both their hands, calling a cheerful goodbye to Ten and Johnny as he took the kids back inside.

Johnny stood with his toes in the puddle, the soft heat of the sun warming the back of his neck. The air was still humid and full of the scent of wet earth and growing things. The old brick houses, the brilliant green grasses, the jungle-like bushes and trees in the vacant lots, all was painted in the lucent and golden light of the setting sun. Ten walked close to Johnny, smiling up at him. “You look happy.”

“Yes.” Johnny felt a melting pleasure as he gazed in Ten eyes, easing something that he didn’t know had gone tight inside him. The playful beauty of Ten’s smile warmed him and made him feel lighter than he had all day. His earlier fear, his worry at the warnings of the sylph - they disappeared as if they had never been. He reached out, taking the smaller hand inside his own, not minding the wet fingers. Ten’s soft skin felt sweet in his calloused grip, and he didn’t want to ever let go. The fragrant breeze curled around them, caressing their skin like gentle fingers. “I need to take the elixir to the hospital.”

“Oh.” Crestfallen, Ten’s looked down, lips sliding into a pout.

“Come with me?” Johnny wiggled their joined hands.

Ten’s smile returned. “Of course.”

They met the family at the hospital that night. The patient hadn’t received pain meds for two hours, and was moaning out loud when Johnny entered the room.

The family were gathered around the sick man, at least twelve of them standing or sitting on folding chairs. Many of them had faces drawn with tension, feeling sympathetic pain  from listening to their loved one suffer. An old woman was holding the dying man’s thin hand, patting it to attempt to comfort him. The monitor showed his heart rate was over 100, and there was a sheen of sweat on the sick man’s brow. His free hand moved erratically, pulling at his bedding, at his gown, in too much pain to stay still.

“Johnny, I’m so glad you’re here. Do we need to leave the room, or…” Taeil’s professor rose from his seat.

“No, it’s fine.” Johnny put his case on the bedside table, and opened it to take out a little bottle nestled in the soft velvet.

The old lady eyed the bottle suspiciously. “he can’t swallow anything.”

“That’s okay.” All business, Johnny pushed the patient’s gown aside and poured the elixir into his chest. It only took a moments concentration to trigger the spell, which immediately latched on and sunk into the body it was keyed to.

The family held their collective breaths, faces reflecting hope or doubt as he continued to moan for a minute more… but then his voice quieted. His contorted  face relaxed, and his frantic hands ceased pulling at his sheets. The gaunt old man was still for a moment, but then he opened his eyes. He blinked, then said in a rusty voice, “oh, look. Everybody’s here for grandpa.”

A young girl burst into tears. The old lady smiled, eyes moist, and the voices set up a babble of joy as they all tried to speak at once.

“It only lasts about 12 hours,” Johnny told the professor in the hallway. “And remember, this spell blocks all his pain receptors. He could be laying on hot coals and he wouldn’t feel it, so just be careful.”

“Okay. I transferred the money to your account.” The man held Johnny’s hand, shaking it fervently. “It’s worth more than what I gave you. Thank you.”

The professor hurried back into the room, weaving around Ten, who was still hovering at the doorway. Johnny sighed in relief, his shoulders slumping. There was always the fear that he did something wrong and it wouldn’t work, but all was well. His client was happy, Taeil would be happy, and Johnny was happy he’d made enough money for a month’s expenses. Plus- he had no guilt at all in using his knowledge to do something like this. He had a tumultuous relationship with magic, but in this instance, he and magic were completely at peace.

Johnny slid a hand onto Ten’s nape and he startled, too engrossed in watching the scene in the room. He blinked, glancing back at Johnny. “What?”

“Its done. Lets go.”  


They trekked back out to the jeep, walking down the cracked pavement of the DMC hospital complex. The sun had gone down, and the horizon was a fading purple. Headlights flashed as cars turned on the convoluted streets.

Johnny noticed that Ten was quiet in the car going home, and followed quietly when they went back up the stairs into his flat. Kaya was curled on the windowsill, and didn’t even open her eyes when they came in.

Johnny set his box on the kitchen counter, and reached in the fridge for a beer. Ten was just standing there, mouth pressed small, watching Johnny but obviously not seeing him.

“What’s wrong? You’ve never been so quiet for so long.” Johnny took a few gulps, enjoying the cold bitterness of the brew in his mouth.

“I’m thinking.” Ten’s blurred gaze sharpened on Johnny’s face.

“What about?”

Ten looked at the floor, biting his lip, arms stiff at his sides. “It’s just- the way they were all there. The family. They cared about that old man. He didn’t have anything to give them. There was no reason that they had to be there or pay you to make that potion, other than…” Ten’s voice trailed off.

“They loved him.” Johnny was amused at Ten’s confusion. “Is it so hard to understand?”

“Ugh.” Ten turned, his face to the wall so Johnny couldn’t see his expression. His fists clenched at his side. “I want to go to HQ.”

Johnny scowled, snapping, “Not there.”

Ten threw a glance over his shoulder, eyes glittering more than they should. “You don’t have to come with me.”

Johnny set the beer down on the counter and crossed the kitchen to press himself against Ten’s back. He wound one arm around the smaller boy’s waist, keeping him close as his other hand cupped his chin, turning his head for a slow, sensual kiss. “Let's stay here, eh?” Johnny murmured against Ten’s warm mouth. “Let’s celebrate finishing that damned job. We’ll drink beer and eat cake, and I’ll touch you anyway you want.” It was easy to open the soft lips under his, caress tongue to tongue, his lower hand sliding down Ten’s chest to curve around his hip.

Ten moaned quietly into Johnny’s mouth, body relaxing into pliancy for a moment against the taller one’s broad chest. For a moment, Johnny really thought he’d won - but then Ten was struggling out of his arms, eyes flashing and lips flushed.

“I need to go to HQ. I have to see my sister.”

“Can’t you just call her?” Johnny groaned out loud, letting his arms fall back at his sides. At Ten’s glare, he gave up. “Fine. Fine. Let me get my vampire spray and we’ll go.”

 


	25. Chapter 25

“Ready?” Ten’s eyes were opaque, catching the pallid  illumination of the streetlights as he paused with his hand on the door handle. The dark around them was thick, pregnant with humidity from the days of rain. Though the skies were clear, moisture rose up from the ground in wisps, floating over the roads and the cracked pavement of the parking lot

Johnny’s lips curved in a pensive smile. He was armed, though his weapons weren’t anything that the bouncer would recognize as such. “Just - let me.” He released his seat belt. “Tilt your head back.”

Ten obeyed, baring his pale throat. “Ok.”

Johnny sprayed Ten’s long neck, and his arms below the sleeves of his black t-shirt. “There. If one of them tries to bite you he will be a sleeping mess.”

Ten watched what Johnny was doing, mouth soft with fondness. “No need, for me.”

“Ah, but it makes me feel better.” Kaya, sitting between them, leapt to Ten’s shoulder. Johnny opened his door. “Lets go.”

With its edges blurred by darkness, the shape of the bar was vague and humped, appearing more like a crouching beast. Johnny felt the electric crawl of trepidation across his back as they crossed the parking lot. This was the place that he was nearly killed. Without Ten he would certainly be very dead at this moment, rotting in the family crypt somewhere near Lake Michigan, and his mother would be picking her teeth with vampire bones. Really dumb to kill the only son of a masterclass wizard with a whole coterie of close friends and neighbors that would queue up when she called. Johnny entertained himself with the pleasantly morbid fantasy of his mother descending on the bar with her friends and a big ass flame thrower. 

The door was warm and vibrated under Johnny’s hand as he pulled it open. The bouncer did a quick search for weapons before he let them in. Air conditioning didn’t make much of a dent in the sultry heat of the place; if anything, it was more humid in the bar than outside. Johnny felt the sting of sweat pricking under his arms and on his chest, but he didn’t regret the long sleeved shirt he’d chosen to wear.

The bar was the same as before:  the same velvet darkness, the same great sound system with the bass pounding out the beat, the same cheap booze and drugs for sale. There was still an eclectic mix of people, young and old, urban and suburban, all colors and sexes. The only thing that had changed was Johnny - because he knew what lay behind the offerings of pleasure to be had for cheap.

The brass braziers hanging in the corners oozed white smoke that snaked across the room, stirring as people walked and the dancers gyrated and kicked up their feet. Johnny pulled a mask out of his pocket and looped the strings around his ears, pinching it over his nose so it would stay in place. He didn’t know if it would help protect him from whatever it was that permeated the air, but he wanted to try and keep a level head tonight. Some people glanced at him, but then looked away; in this place, there were stranger things than a man in a mask

They had barely taken seats when Sicheng was there, in a loose tank top that showed his chest and arms. His dark eyes were lined with black and gold, and heavy chains of gold dangled around his neck and his wrists. He had a tattoo decorating his shoulder and coiling around into his back, outlines sharp and black on his smooth skin. 

“Can I help you.” He didn’t pretend he was glad to see them. He watched both with wariness in his dark eyes.

“I’m here for Hatchi.” Ten replied.

The side of his mouth twitched, as if he was surpressing a stronger emotion.“Then come.” 

Sicheng jerked his head and turned around, without waiting to see if they were following him. He strode forward as if the pressed crowd of bar goers weren’t even there. The mass of people  parted like he was a god walking through them, hands raised and trailing against his arms as he paced by. As he opened the door to the back room, his eyes met Johnny’s briefly and his lips curved in a small smug grin. Arrogant, as if he were inviting the wizard to do something about it.  _ They love me,  _ His eyes seemed to say.  _ They can’t wait for me to bite them. _

Johnny’s hand tightened on the spray in his pocket. He would love to put it right in that bastard’s face - but there was Yuta to consider, and Hatchi. He forced his fingers to relax.

Sicheng led them into the back rooms, down the short hallway. The damages that had been done the last time Johnny was in this room had all been repaired; the wall that had opened into Ten’s portal was now painted a dark blue. Johnny wondered if they had been unable to paint over the scorch marks with a lighter color. 

Yuta and Hatchi were seated on the floor, with a Go board between them; the surface was scattered with carefully placed black and white stones. Yuta was in a t-shirt and basketball shorts, with his hair uncombed and messy; he looked surprised to see them. Hatchi was in a blue silk robe, her tan skin free of adornments, her blond hair damp and combed straight on her back. Without makeup, jewels and clothing, she looked non descript, her face the sort you could see anywhere. She smiled, white teeth brilliant against her dark skin.  “Its my darling brother, and his lover. Come here, Ten.”

Kaya jumped down to the floor, pacing closer to watch as Ten hurried to her side, leaving Johnny to pace after him. He sunk to his knees beside his sister, leaning into her as she placed an arm around him. Her tan contrasted with his pale skin as as she pressed her forehead against his, patting him gently. “What’s the matter?”

Yuta looked at them curiously, and Sicheng did the same; Johnny was watching Ten. All of them startled as the muted sound of music from the club suddenly spiked, then went quiet again. Johnny glanced down the hallway, prepared to see some confused clubber lost in the dark corridor. Sicheng turned back as well, taking one step into the corridor then freezing. Vampires had excellent vision in the dark; whatever he saw at the end of the hallway had him taking hurried steps backward.

Footsteps clicked against the hardwood floor. Yuta rose to his feet, his expression unreadable. Hatchi shifted to put herself in front of Ten, her lips parting in a sly grin; Kaya ‘s head came up, her pointy teeth bared as she hissed.

A man stood framed in the entryway. His blond hair puffed around his head, fluffy with humidity, only emphasizing the feline shape of his face, with soft cheeks and a small triangular chin. He wearing a red silk shirt that slipped against his delicate frame like a second skin, and diamonds glittered in his ears and on the rings on his fingers. HIs dark eyes made the jewels appear dull in comparison as they glowed with an unholy glee. He didn’t look left or right. His gaze was fully on Hatchi. He grinned, and his sharp incisors touched his pink lips. “I finally found you, you fucking  _ bitch.”   _

_ Shit,  _ Johnny thought to himself.  _ Another one, and not friendly.  _ He glanced over at Ten, and met the boy’s gaze.

Johnny jerked his head toward the door, but Ten shook his almost imperceptibly.

_ Dammit. _

Sicheng had lost his arrogance. He looked distinctly shaken if not scared, pressed back to the wall as if he wanted to sink into it. Yuta wore a frown, his fists clenched at his sides, eyes narrowed and dark as he glared heatedly at the blond man. Hatchi was the only one who seemed unconcerned. She rose to her feet, fixing her robe around her body. Her chin lifted in challenge as she raised an eyebrow at the blond vampire. “Oh, it’s you again. I suppose the local pedophiles are trembling in fear.”

The man hissed, fangs bared, looking so much like Kaya had earlier that it made Johnny want to laugh, though it was the wrong time and it really wasn’t funny. “Intellectual as always. I’m glad to see that you haven’t changed after all this time.”

“Mother, stop it.” Yuta snapped at Hatchi, causing her to pull a sulky face. He circled the Go table, cautiously approaching the man in the hallway. “Yesung, calm down.” 

Yesung’s dark eyes flicked between Hatchi and Yuta as the other vampire came near. “I am calm.” And strangely enough, his voice was quieter, reflecting the truth of what he said. 

“What are you planning to do here?” Yuta’s voice rose in timbre, betraying his nerves. “Don’t do anything yet. Let me get all the humans out.”

Yesung gave the other vampire a sideways glance.  “I’m not going to do anything.”

Yuta gaped. “What?”

“I’m not here to do anything.” The man grinned again, glancing over at Hatchi, who lost her smile in confusion.

“That doesn’t seem likely,” She scoffed, crossing her arms.

“I just came to tell you goodbye, mother.” Yesung’s eyes glittered, gleeful again. He smoothed his hair back behind his ears, smiling all the while. “I’ve been trying to destroy you for a long time now. And maybe I should be grateful to you for giving me purpose in life, since it has seen me through these long, long years and kept me going at my lowest times. But all rivalries come to an end, and I’m prepared to find myself a new life’s purpose when you are gone.”

“Ah, you can’t get rid of me.” Hatchi snorted, irritated. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “You think so much of yourself. You may be my eldest child but you are no match for me and you know it. Your pathetic attempts do nothing but amuse me. I love a good joke- and that’s why I’ve suffered  _ you  _ to live, all this time.”

“Oh, thank you goddess.” Yesung made a sarcastic bow, his lithe body graceful. “Not only did you gift me with this life, but you continue to bless me. I can’t wait until you receive your reward for all you have done for me.”

Yuta was staring at Yesung, eyes boring into his face like a drill. The elder vampire glanced back at him, eyes narrowing. “What.”

“What did you do?” Yuta reached out to grip the blond’s shoulder, and a  _ crack  _ was heard through the room as Yesung smacked his arm away. 

“Don’t touch me!” Yesung glared at Yuta, wild eyed. 

Hatchi rolled her eyes. “What a touching reunion.”

Yesung’s attention snapped back to his mother. He paced slowly and deliberately up to Hatchi, stopping just inches away from her. The blond man was taller than her, but it was obvious they were kin. Yesung had the same small build, with narrow shoulders, but his features were more delicate and refined than hers, making her seem like a blurrier version of him. “I’m just here to say goodbye.” He tilted his head winsomely, mouth curving in an insincere smile. “I’m only wondering if you have anything to say for yourself after all this time.” Despite his tone, his eyes were feverishly focused on her face as he waited for her reply.

She laughed softly, dark eyes gleaming into his. It seemed like they were completely unaware that anyone else was in the room with them. “Like what? Do you want to hear that I’m sorry? Because I’m not. This game with you has been so much fun I wouldn’t change a thing. Do you want me to say that I love you after all? Because I don’t. You should know I am not capable of that.”

Johnny bit his lip, wondering what the hell was wrong with Hatchi. Anyone could see that the blond looked furious, and Yuta looked like he was going to have a seizure,.

Ten sat on the floor, ignored and unacknowledged. He was gazing up at Hatchi, his face open and vulnerable. The look in his dark eyes was indescribably sad.

“You’re a disgusting creature,” Yesung rasped, eyes narrowing as he stared at his mother. HIs mouth twisted.

“I am what I am,” She retorted, smirking. “ _ Son _ . Would you like to give me a kiss?” She pouted her lips at him, reaching for his face, and laughed as he recoiled. “No?”

The elder vampire gave her a venomous look. “I hate you.” 

“Yes, I know.” Hatchi rolled her eyes, as if she could care less.

The vampire sent his mother a murderous glare. His fists clenched at his side with a cracking sound.

“Brother.” Yuta was shaking his head frantically, his eyes on the other vampires face. “Don’t. Not here.”

For the first time, Yesung’s eyes flitted around the room. He saw Sicheng by the wall, Ten on the floor, Johnny standing close to him and the black cat at his side. The sound of music from the club sounded dully from the other side of the building. The tension in the room stretched for a moment, then eased back as Yesung glanced at Yuta, giving him a faint smile.

The blond rubbed his neck as if it ached,  and breathed out a few huffed breaths. “I won’t wreck your place again Yuta. That’s it, then. Goodbye.” Raking a hand through his hair, he went back the way he came, the music crashing through as he opened the door to the bar, then again, silence.

Hatchi smiled, shaking her head ruefully. Yuta glared at her, causing her to ask, “What?”

“Couldn’t you have said something? Anything at all?” Yuta demanded angrily. 

There was a sizzle in the air, a feeling of electricity building as Hatchi stared at Yuta. “I said what I wanted to say.”

With a groan of frustration, Yuta turned around and raced after Yesung, the door slamming hard enough behind him to rattle the walls. Sicheng didn’t waste any time slinking behind him, sliding through the door only seconds later.

“Well. That was annoying.” Hatchi turned back to Ten with a bright smile. “What did you want to ask me?” 

“Who was he?” Ten wasn’t able to fully hide the emotion in his eyes.

“Yesung. My eldest currently living child.” Hatchi sat back down by the Go board, covering her legs demurely with the blue robe. “Yuta is the most obedient, but Yesung is… really, something special.” She sighed, and trailed her fingers over the black and white stones, sitting in formation on the board. “He’s tried to kill me for hundreds of years, for this and that. Seriously, he still blames me for leaving him in a bad place when he was only a toddler.” Her lips curved in what would have looked like a fond smile, if had been on somebody else.

“Did you leave him in a bad place?” Johnny’s voice came out rough. He hadn’t talked for a while, and the mask he was wearing distorted it even more. “When he was a toddler?”

“Of course I did. Everything he accuses me of doing, I did it.” She looked at Ten, and leaned over to squish his face in her hands, making a moue at his expression. “What? Are you mad at sister? This world is just a playground, Tennie. Don’t get too attached to any of your playthings.” 

She released his face and Ten put his hands up to his cheeks where they were reddening. He glanced at Johnny, then reached out to pet Kaya’s head, scratching around her ears. He pulled her into his lap and held her to his chest, bending his head to rub his nose into her soft fur. “I’m ready to go back home.”

“Well what about me?” Hatchi stood up again, annoyed. She crossed her arms on her chest. “I don’t have anything to do now.”

Johnny was getting pissed. “That’s not our problem.” The truth was, he wanted to get out of there pronto. He could feel something itching at the back of his neck, warning him to leave this place, and now. “Read a book.”

She was tapping her foot. “Boring.”

“Dry your hair and go to Yuta’s bar. Its fun.” Ten gave her a lopsided smile.

“That’s true! The last time I went out there I got propositioned in the first five minutes,” Hatchi chortled. “But Ten- what did you want to ask me?”

His face fell. “Nothing.” But Johnny could tell by his eyes that his question had been answered, and he hadn’t liked what the answer had been.

Ten didn’t want to talk about his sister or HQ, going so far as to glare at Johnny when he wanted to talk about it. They went back to Johnny’s place in an uncomfortable silence.

The steps creaked under their feet as they went up. Johnny was turning on the lights in the kitchen when Ten said abruptly, “You … you don’t like this.”

Johnny turned around, facing the dark haired boy. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t like Hatchi. You don’t like being around her. You don’t like the vampires, and you don’t like going to HQ.” Ten clenched his fists at his sides, cheeks red and flushed. “I don’t want to make you do things. I don’t want to hurt you.  I don’t think enough about what is best for you, when that is what I should think about first. I shouldn’t have told you not to go to school. I shouldn’t have asked you not to make magic. I don’t think that I am good for you. I shouldn’t have begged you to let me stay by your side. I should have let you go.”

In two long steps Johnny had Ten by the arms, gripping him hard enough to bruise. He was suddenly scared, with a sick feeling in his stomach, like the floor was dropping out from under his feet. “ Why are you saying that? Are you going to leave me?” 

Ten didn’t struggle, even though Johnny’s fingers had to be hurting him. “I could never leave you.” The emotion was raw, bleeding from Ten’s eyes. “I don’t want to.”

“Then shut up.” Johnny told Ten fiercely, gathering him in tight to his chest. He felt the sweet heat of his body, and the silvery caress of the magic that buzzed just over Ten’s skin. It stroked against Johnny’s aura, just a tickle of pleasure, a promise of more. “I will never let you go.”

 

Yuta chased Yesung, focused only on catching up. He felt himself running faster than he had in years, almost losing the elder vampire in traffic at Woodward avenue and then again on a downtown street. They wove between humans, using preternatural speed to be nearly invisible to the naked eye. Yuta despaired of ever catching up when he careened off something hard, landing back on his ass and looking up to see his brother looking down at him. Of course Yesung had just stopped, and let Yuta bounce off him like a pillar of marble. 

“Do you have something to say to me?” Yesung asked, arching an eyebrow. The vampire was etched against the dark sky, wearing a cloak of stars. The river was on the right, black and inky under the streetlights; the sound of the rushing water was loud in the silence between them.

Yuta got to his feet. His chest was tightening at the sight of the man in front of him, his immortal heart beating faster than it had in years. He’d forgotten what it was like to look at Yesung and feel all the old emotions welling up inside him, making him into such a mess that he could hardly speak.  “I want to know what you’ve done.”

“What do you mean, brother?” Yesung smiled, canines glinting. 

“I know you. Better than anyone.” Yuta’s tone was bitter. “You walked away from her, just like it was nothing. I couldn’t believe it even while I was seeing it. And all it means to me is that you are planning something even worse than anything you’ve done before.“

“Ah.” Yesung’s face slid into a momentary expression of regret. “She’s right, you know. I had to face the fact that i cannot kill her, so I had to ally myself with somebody who can.”

Yuta blanched, feeling an icy chill even though the night was warm. “You didn’t go to  _ him, _ did you? You have to know the kind of fee he charges for his help! Did you promise to deliver somebody?” HIs voice dropped to a whisper. “Is it me?”

Yesung’s expression softened. He reached out and touched Yuta’s face gently. “I did go to him. But don’t worry, I don’t make his kind of deals. I am not some puerile witch begging for his favor. I would never trade my most beloved brother, not even for that bitch’s life. He tried of course, since such deals amuse him, but he called me back when I refused. He hates her just as much as I do.” Yesung frowned, his cold hand dropping away from Yuta. “I will serve him in some ways. I have agreed to that.”

Yuta stood, his shoulders drooping at the words, his eyes closing on sudden tears. Despair washed over him, knowing that there was no sense in saying anything, and the final parting would be coming sooner than he had imagined that it would. “Yesung…”

“Are you doing well, Yuta? I hope you are happy. You are still surrounding yourself with little ones, does that please you?”

Yuta looked up into his brother’s sweetly smiling face. It was hard to make himself speak around the lump in his throat. Pretending it was all ok. Pretending that they were fine, for this soft pause in the rush of time. “We have been safe and happy, up until just recently. Sad times come and go. We will be fine again. Are you still living your life alone? Have you still not made yourself any companion?”

“No, of course not. They are better off dead than like this.” A breeze blew gently around them, making Yesung’s hair float around his head. “Its funny. This life is a horror,” The elder mused, looking up at the sky, “Yet I fiercely love my life. Despite the savagery of it, and the betrayals that only seem to get more numerous as the years add on.”

“I’m sorry.” Yuta choked out, guilt like a weight against his shoulders, forcing his head down. There was a gentle breeze, and when Yuta looked up his brother was gone.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Do you want to read yesung and yuta background story? Should I post it in this fic, or separately? Hmm.


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